I'm All In
by Angelfan15
Summary: Buffy's life went from picture perfect to court hearings before she even realized it was happening, can her punishment turn into the best thing that ever happened to her?
1. Juvenile Delinquent

Title: I'm All In

By Angelfan15

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Their relationship would have turned out so different if they were mine.

Pairing: Buffy/Angel mainly

Distribution: Let me know where it's going!

Spoilers: This is completely AU

Rating: PG-13, probably. I'm always horrible with ratings.

Summary: Buffy's life went from picture perfect to court hearings before she even realized it was happening, can her punishment turn into the best thing that ever happened to her?

Chapter 1: Juvenile Delinquent

Joyce Summers sighed for what felt like the hundredth time since getting into the car. She couldn't believe what a turn their life had taken in the last few years. Once upon a time they had the perfect life, she was the wife to a senior partner at Wolfram & Hart Attorneys at Law and stay at home mom to a well behaved straight B Middle School student. Turning to look at her daughter, Joyce sighed and shook her head, now she was a divorced struggling gallery owner and mother to a juvenile delinquent that was failing the eleventh grade. "Buffy…"

"No." Buffy adjusted her sunglasses and crossed her arms over her chest.

Joyce took a deep breath. "We have to talk about this, Buffy."

Buffy rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses, shaking her head softly to move her blonde hair out of her face. "We really don't." The teenager responded, annoyed.

Joyce slowed her old jeep down and pulled to the side of the road. She hated that jeep but it was the only thing she could afford after her ex-husband, Hank, wouldn't allow her to have her Mercedes or Buffy to take her Porsche after the divorce. Not that it mattered, Buffy had gotten her license taken away by a judge after she got in trouble once again with her friends.

Turning to look at her daughter, Joyce gave her a stern look. "Buffy Anne Summers, if you don't want to talk then I will talk. This has GOT to stop! This is the third school is two years and I refuse to let you get kicked out of this one! You will do community service or whatever else it is that Principal Snyder wants you to do!" Buffy used to be so full of life, the typical bubbly blonde cheerleader but now, Joyce couldn't remember when the last time her daughter smiled was. "I just don't understand why you can't stay out of trouble."

"Maybe we aren't moving far enough away from Pike, Benny and Faith." Buffy shrugged, unimpressed.

"Buffy, you know the deal. We have to stay close enough to Los Angeles so that you can see your father whenever you want to." Joyce said, slightly more gently.

Buffy turned to look at her mother. "Yeah, well, he doesn't want to see me, so we can move to another country if we wanted to."

Joyce shook her head, they had moved to three different towns that surrounded Los Angeles. Buffy had gotten kicked out of two of those school and they recently moved to Sunnydale, California three months earlier and she had already gotten enough strikes to be kicked out of school. Luckily, Joyce had talked the principal down and he agreed not to kick her daughter out of school, as long as she did community service of his choosing. One thing her daughter was right about was her ex-husband, he hadn't showed any interest in seeing their daughter since he told her that he was leaving her. "I'm sure your father is just busy, but as soon as he can, he will visit you."

"It's been almost a year since we have heard from dad without a lawyer present." Buffy reasoned.

Joyce nodded, she couldn't deny that. "He just has a lot going on, Sweetie. We need to make it work here, I think we could both be happy here and the gallery has real potential."

Buffy rolled her eyes. She loved her mom and hated that she was putting her mom through all this, she just couldn't seem to stay away from the new friends she had made when she was still living in Los Angeles. Faith, Pike and Benny always seemed to find their way to wherever Buffy was living and they would fall into bad habits but she could tell her mom liked it in the small town and the previous owner of the Art gallery had given the business to her mother when he decided to retire and move to Florida. "Whatever."

"I really think you shouldn't have any contact with Pike and Benny." Joyce said, slowly pulling the old jeep back onto the road.

"Just Pike and Benny?" Buffy said, crossing her arms over her chest again. "What about Faith?"

Joyce shook her head. "I don't think Faith is a bad kid, she just fell into the wrong crowd, just like you did."

A short, sarcastic laugh escaped the young blonde's lips. Her mom didn't know half of the stuff that Faith had done or how much of an influence Faith had been on her. Buffy shook her head, looking down at her black leather pants and black leather jacket she was wearing, Faith had given them to her a few months ago when she and her mother had been living in Victorville, California. "What is it?"

Joyce looked to her daughter quickly then back to the road. "What is what?"

"What did the tro…" Buffy stopped herself from finishing her sentence, she knew her mother didn't like it when she called the principal of Sunnydale High a troll. "Snyder say that I had to do?"

"He didn't." Joyce answered. "He said he will come up with something and make arrangements and then get back to me."

Buffy rolled her eyes again.

0o0o0

Buffy walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, she was hoping that her mom was still at work because she just couldn't deal with hearing her mom tell her what a disappointment her behavior was. She let out a sigh when she saw her mom standing at the kitchen island chopping vegetables. She didn't know if she could handle talking to her mom about it. Relief washed over the teenager when her mother didn't say anything, quickly she walked over to the fridge to grab a bottle of water and turned to leave before her luck ran out.

"Why?" Joyce asked her daughter simply.

Buffy closed her eyes, close but no dice. She should have just drank water from the upstairs bathroom. "Why what?"

Joyce shrugged. "Why did you have to get into yet another fight at school? You knew it was your last chance and you did it anyway."

She had every intention of ignoring her mother but when she looked into the older woman's eyes, she couldn't. "He grabbed my ass. Again." She replied before heading back to her room. That Larry kid was always grabbing girls and making perverted comments, he was so in your face about it too, much more than the other guys at school. It made her wonder if he was trying too hard to cover up the fact that he was actually gay. Or he really was just an ass.

0o0o0

Buffy sat in the front seat of her mother's old jeep, once again with her large sunglasses covering her eyes and her arms folded across her chest. She had gotten in an argument with her mother right before they had left the house, her mother had refused to let her leave the house in the low-cut shirt, short skirt and leather jacket she had been wearing. After 25 minutes of arguing she changed into what her mother had told her to wear, blue jeans and a pink t-shirt, but being the defiant teenager, she was, she kept the leather jacket. Her mom was seriously on edge ever since the troll had called to inform her mother of what it was that Buffy had to do in able to stay in school. She wouldn't tell Buffy though. Pulling up to a building, Buffy gasped, lean forward to get a better look at the red letters on the front of the building then quickly turned to her mother in shock. "You have GOT to be kidding me! No!" Buffy shouted. "There is NO WAY IN HELL, I am going in there!"

"You have to if you want to stay in school, Buffy." Joyce said quietly.

"I don't want to stay in school!" Buffy shouted again. "Who needs school? George Foreman dropped out of school when he was in the ninth grade! And Henry Ford…"

"You aren't George Foreman or Henry Ford." Her mother sighed before looking at the building. "You are my daughter, and you WILL graduate from high school, get into a good college and get a good enough job to support yourself and me in my old age."

Buffy let out a frustrated scream when her mother reached in front of her and opened the door for her. "Aretha Franklin…"

"You are Buffy Summers" Joyce said pointing to the open door. "She who must do community service if she wants to live to see another year."

Buffy's eyes widened in her mother's direction, her mother just threatened to kill her, which she didn't doubt the older woman would do if she kept behaving like she had been, but she was pretty sure if she walked into the building she would die anyway.

A/N: I know this was really short and it's been a while since I posted, but I'm still working on my other stories, I have just been really busy and experiencing a little writers block. I am going to try to get as much of this story done as I can in the next month before my classes start up again. I will get started on chapter 2 tomorrow and it will be longer than this one! Please review!


	2. New Partner In Crime

Alison117- Thank you so much for the great review! I really appreciate it and it motivates me to write more. I have been working on a few other stories that I haven't posted yet. There is one that is an alternate reality, Angel is a vampire but Buffy's isn't the slayer. It's my first story that I have written that everyone isn't just plain human, so I'm constantly editing it to get it right. I have been working on it on and off for 4 years and have about 20 chapters written. I'm wondering if I should start posting it just to see what people think.

Guest- Thank you! I have also noticed that Bangel stories have started to decline, I feel like it's happening all over the internet! There are times when I am having writers block and I will read other Bangel fics for inspiration and I'm finding that I can't find any new ones! I don't want that to happen, so I am going to continue writing!

Thank you to everyone who had favorited and started following this story! You guys rock!

Chapter 2: New Partner in Crime

After watching her mother drive away, leaving her to her fate, Buffy turned around to face the glass door with lightly tinted windows. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her hand to the large door handle, dropping it before making contact. "You got this Summers, this isn't some movie… this is real life!" She dropped her hand back down to her side. "No, this is a nightmare, that's what this is!"

Suddenly, she thought of her mom, and how much she wanted it to work in this town. She owed a lot to her mom, she gave up so much for her, and that was before she started getting in trouble. Her mom had gotten divorced and had to learn how to be alone after being married for 15 years until Buffy had gotten kicked out of Hemery High School for burning down the school gym and they had to relocate to Santa Ana, California. Six months later, Joyce had to quit her job at a health insurance company that she had just started to get the hang of. Her mother had really struggled with entering the workforce after having the luxury of staying home for so many years. They had lasted in Victorville the longest, mostly because the school just didn't care but when Buffy and Pike had stolen the Assistant Principals car to go pick up Faith and Benny, who had decided to steal some alcoholic beverages from a gas station, the school decided to take action. The four troubled teens had charges pressed against them, Buffy had gotten off the easiest because her father didn't want it to get out that his daughter had stolen a car. Hank Summers was afraid it would affect his job, like it did when she had gotten kicked out of Hemery, so he covered it up the best he could. After everything she had put her mother through, she owed her this. Taking another breath, she pulled the door open quickly and looked around, so far so good. After pausing for a moment, she quickly stuck one foot into the door, and just as quickly she pulled her leg back out and looked around again. When she didn't see anyone, she jumped in the doorway and jumped back out with a tiny smirk. "Ha! I knew it would be fine!" Opening the door wider, she walked inside the building.

A woman with brown curly hair walked through a door about 10 feet in front of the blonde, the woman smiled. "Hi! Welcome to Awaken Church! I don't think I have seen you around here before, can I help you?"

Buffy looked around then turned to face the older woman again. "I'm here to… volunteer. Principal Snyder set it up."

"Oh!" The woman smiled brighter. "You must be one of the Cross-Outreach students! If you go right through there…" the woman pointed towards the door she had just walked through. "they will be able to help you. Just ask for Andrew. I'm Ellen Frank, by the way!" She smiled brightly.

Buffy looked from the door back to the woman, nodding. "Buffy." She offered before walking towards the door, up on stage she saw several people up on the stage, there was a man drumming in the far corner. Buffy didn't know if he was just messing around or he sucked. Buffy noticed a man with red hair standing by a row of chairs with a clipboard in his hand. "Are you Andrew?"

The man looked up at Buffy and simply shook his head to inform her that he wasn't who he was looking for. "He just left."

"Oh." Buffy said, snapping her mouth shut as she looked around at the people hooking up cords and tuning instruments. "Well, I think there has been misunderstanding. I don't have a musical bone in my body… unless you need me to play the recorder." Buffy nodded, raising her eyebrows. "I play a mean hot cross buns… or so my fourth-grade music teach told me."

"Who are you?" The man finally lowered his clipboard.

"Buffy." She answered, waiting for him to introduce himself.

"Oz." He nodded. "And I don't know what you are talking about."

Buffy looked around again, maybe she would luck out and Principal Snyder didn't make the arrangements for her to do… whatever it was she was supposed to be doing. She couldn't believe that troll had picked a Church of all things! She still couldn't get over the fact that she hadn't combusted when she entered the building! "Well, Principal Snyder…"

Oz started to laugh. "Oh, you. You are going to need to meet up with Jenny. She's on the other side of campus."

"Excuse me?" Buffy asked, confused. "Campus?"

The man nodded. "Yeah, that's what we call it. I will take you." Setting his clipboard in a chair, he turned to the people on the stage. "I will be right back, taking her to Jenny." Turning back to Buffy, he nodded his head towards the door. "So, what did you do to get assigned here?"

Buffy shrugged as she followed him. "Would you believe that I'm apart of Cross-Outreach?"

Oz shook his head. "Not if Snyder sent you." He pointed to an opened door at the end of a hallway. "This is Jenny's office. Gotta get back."

Buffy watched the man make his way back down the hall, then turned towards the open door. She peaked her head into the office where she saw a thin woman with shoulder length black hair sitting at a desk. Buffy cleared her throat, causing the woman to look up at her.

"Hi!" The woman pushed her chair back and stood. "You must be Buffy!"

"That would be me." Buffy nodded. "I guess you don't get many delinquents around here. So, like what am I supposed to be doing around here?"

Jenny laughed. "We have someone here that is working with our cleaning staff because he got in trouble with the law. I wouldn't exactly call you a delinquent, Buffy."

Buffy narrowed her eyes at the woman. "And you would know how?"

"With my department of the church we have to do a thorough check on whoever is coming in here." Jenny said as she motioned for Buffy to follow her. "You seemed like you were doing really well until your parents' separation. That's completely understandable, divorce is hard in general but it's even harder on kids."

Buffy glanced around the hallway as they turned, the walls were suddenly painted a brighter color and there was a large bumble bee painted on the wall. "Exactly what department is this?" Before Jenny could answer, several pictures came into view, hanging on the wall. Some pictures of babies, some toddlers, adults reading to small children. "Oh, no!" Buffy exclaimed. "There is no way!"

"Is something wrong, Buffy?" Jenny asked, turning to look at the blonde.

"Yes." She nodded. "Very wrong. There must be a mistake. I don't do kids. Snyder even knows this! The last time I got in trouble Snyder made me work at some kids event the school was doing to raise money and it was bad… very, very, bad. Snyder didn't even want me talking to the kids!"

"Relax, Buffy." Jenny offered her a gentle smile. "There are no kids here unless it's Sunday, we teach the kids God's word at their own level. Today you will just be setting out supplies and stocking the classrooms with snacks."

Buffy let out a sign of relief. She wouldn't be around kids.

"When you come back tomorrow, we will start training you." Jenny lightly rubbed Buffy's arm.

"Train?" Buffy asked panicked. "Train for what?"

"To teach the kids." Jenny smiled again. "You can either pick your own age group or we can just put you wherever it is that you are needed."

"I can't… I can't…" The blonde started to breathe heavily. "You don't understand, it's not just that I don't do kids, I CAN'T do kids. They will end up dead… or maimed. THEY ARE PROBABLY GOING TO END UP MAIMED!"

Jenny laughed and shook her head. "You won't be in the classroom alone, there is always at least 2 adults in each classroom at a time. And Buffy, none of the children will end up maimed or dead. It has never happened before."

"Not yet." Buffy pouted. "I don't even know anything about the Bible. How am I supposed to teach something that I know nothing about?"

"We have lesson plans, Buffy." Jenny laughed. "Now, let's give you the tour, shall we?" She turned on the light behind her and entered the room. "This is our Three-Year old's classroom."

0o0o0

"Hey." Jenny called, sticking her head into the school aged classroom where Buffy was putting snacks and cups in the cupboards overhead. "How's it going?"

Buffy shrugged. "Okay, I guess."

"Do you want to grab some lunch?" Jenny wondered.

Buffy shook her head. "Nah, I'm okay. I figure I better get this all done."

"Are you sure? I will count lunch as part of your community service hours." Jenny smiled hopefully. "My family is going to be there, so it will be just as torturous as picking up trash in the middle of the summer."

Looking down at the animal crackers in her hand, Buffy shook her head. She really liked Jenny, she was pretty funny. "You know what, sure."

"Awesome!" Jenny laughed. "Meet me out front in ten."

Buffy nodded as the dark-haired woman disappeared back towards her office.

0o0o0

Buffy looked around the restaurant as she sat down across from Jenny, she hadn't been in a restaurant like this in a while. In Los Angeles, it was common to have a waterfall inside of a restaurant but she didn't peg Sunnydale as the type of place to have one. It was casual, yet it felt like it was an expensive restaurant.

"Have you ever been here before?" Jenny asked her as the waitress handed them their menus.

Buffy shook her head, looking down at the menu. The prices were cheap for what the place looked like. "I didn't know this kind of place was in Sunnydale."

"You have been here a couple of months, right?" Jenny asked. "Have you done much exploring?"

"Three months." Buffy nodded. "And it depends on what kind of exploring you mean… I have gone to several grave yards, this town has an insane amount of them by the way… I have been to the police station…"

"What about the movie theater?" Jenny asked the young blonde. "The mall?"

Buffy shook her head. "I'm not really into that stuff."

"Oh, come on." Jenny smiled. "What seventeen-year-old girl isn't into the mall?"

"I'm not allowed to go to the mall without my mom since I got caught using the five-finger discount." Buffy answered truthfully. "And my mom doesn't really have much time now due to work."

Jenny nodded, she didn't want to press the issue because she wanted Buffy to feel comfortable with her. She knew that Buffy had gotten in trouble before, Principal Snyder had told her about her past troubles at Sunnydale High School since moving to Sunnydale. "Well, we should definitely go to the movies sometime."

"Sounds fun." Buffy nodded as the waitress brought a couple of waters for the woman until the rest of their party arrived.

"The school year is almost over." Jenny smiled. "Do you have any plans for the summer?"

Buffy shrugged. "I don't tend to know what I am doing until I do it."

Jenny nodded. "You will be going into twelfth grade… at Sunnydale High School, right?"

"That's the plan." Buffy bit her lip as she looked at the menu, then set her menu down at looked at Jenny. "That's why I'm doing this… the community service thing. My mom likes it here, I don't know why she likes this town so much, but she does. She has an art gallery and a few friends which is more than she has had anywhere else. Snyder said if I don't do this then I can't finish the year off and I can't go back next year. I need to make it work here, for my mom."

Jenny smiled at Buffy, she knew Buffy was a good person the moment she saw her, that fact that she was putting her mother first only confirmed that. Before Jenny could respond, Buffy cleared her throat. "Where is your family? I thought they were going to meet us here…"

"They should be here any minute." Jenny replied, as Buffy took a sip of her water. "They just had a few things to finish up before they could meet us. I think you will really like them."

Buffy nodded, if Jenny's family was as nice as she was then she was sure that she would like them.

Suddenly, Jenny's whole face light up as she looked towards the entrance of the restaurant. She saw an older man with glasses smiling back at their direction and making his way towards them. Jenny stood up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Hey Sweetie, where is…"

"Oh, they couldn't get away." The man answered. "You know how they are, the perfectionist." The man looked at Buffy and smiled wider. "You must be Ms. Summers."

Buffy nodded. "Buffy."

"I'm Rupert Giles." He told her, sitting down beside Jenny. "Most people call me Pastor Giles… or when I'm just out and about, they call me Giles."

Buffy held her hand out for the man and shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Pastor Giles."

"I hear you are going to be with us for the next month." Pastor Giles smiled at the waitress and thanked her for his water and menu. "I think you will really enjoy it."

Buffy nodded, she wasn't sure she would like it. Tolerate it, maybe. Hate it, more than likely.

"Do you have a home church, Buffy?" Pastor Giles asked. When Buffy shook her head no, he smiled. "Well, I promise not to make it too boring."

"What do you mean?" The blonde asked.

"Oh." Pastor Giles glanced at his wife. "You didn't tell her?"

Jenny shook her head. "I haven't gotten to it yet." She turned to the blonde. "It's mandatory that everyone that volunteers in our Kids Ministry attend at least one church service. The service times are 9am, 10:45am and 12:30pm because we have had so much growth within the Church we can't have just one service. You just pick a service to attend and a service to teach the children."

Buffy thought for a moment, she didn't know she would have to attend the church too. Like teaching kids about the Bible, that she knew nothing about, wasn't bad enough. "What about the other service?"

Pastor Giles shrugged. "You are only required to be there for the service you are attending and the one you are teaching. After that, you go on with your day."

"And attending the service also counts towards your community service hours." Jenny smiled and nodded.

Pastor Giles smiled and sipped his water. "We just don't let Snyder in on that part of it."

Buffy watched the two from across the table. She really liked this couple, she started to wonder what their kids were like.

0o0o0

"Bye sweetie, good luck!" Joyce called to her daughter before she drove off that Sunday morning.

Buffy turned around and took a deep breath, she was nervous and didn't really want to go in there. She had spent the past 2 days at the Church, the first day prepping the classrooms and the second day training and she really liked the people she had met so far. But today, she had to attend a church service which she couldn't even remember the last time she did that! And she had to teach kids, Jenny had said that Buffy would be in the four-year-old classroom because she knew that Buffy was nervous and that class was the best behaved. Looking around the parking lot, Buffy watched as all the people mingled outside, walked through the parking lot and greeted people. She briefly wondered if she could sneak into the classroom without anyone talking to her, she didn't know anyone and making awkward small talk wasn't exactly something she wanted to do this early in the morning and without having coffee first.

Buffy had arrived at the classroom almost undetected, one woman who introduced herself as Pat, who was really annoyingly cheerful at such an ungodly hour of… 10:30am, had tried to talk to her but she made the excuse that she was running late and left the woman in her dust. When she arrived in the classroom there was already a few children there, and a woman with bright red hair who was smiling down at a child while he gave her a high-five. The woman looked up at Buffy and smiled brightly. "Hi! You must be Buffy! I'm Willow!"

"Hi." Buffy mumbled.

"Jenny told me that I would be getting a new partner in crime." Willow laughed. "Here." Willow held out a lanyard. "I made your name tag for you, and…" she quickly turned around to where there was a small desk and grabbed a large cup. "I got you a coffee! I didn't know what you liked so I just got you a vanilla latte. They are my favorite!"

"Thanks." Buffy nodded. Maybe she would like this Willow girl, anyone that gave her coffee was someone that wasn't completely evil. Looking at the cup, she saw the words The Expresso Pump. She would have to check the place out sometime, the coffee was pretty good.

0o0o0

Buffy was so grateful that Willow had taken pity on her and taught the class, she had revealed to the redhead that even though she had read the lesson plan that Jenny had given her, she just didn't get it. She didn't know who the people were that she was supposed to be teaching these kids about, or even how to say their names!

Walking towards the sanctuary Buffy noticed that there was coffee in the foyer. Making her way over to the coffee, she grabbed a paper cup on the counter. "Nothing bad ever came from having a second cup of coffee." She said to herself. She quickly made her coffee, grabbed a lid and made her way into the sanctuary. There were people mingling around and talking, glancing up at the clock, she saw that the service didn't start for another ten minutes. Walking further into the sanctuary, she looked around for a place to sit where hopefully no one would talk to her. Settling on a seat in the far back, in the corner, she made her way to the seat before looking around. Even though she had been helping out at the Church for two days she had never been in the sanctuary. It wasn't like most churches, it looked more modernized with its gray walls and deep red strips going all the way around the room and what looked like strobe lights hanging from the ceiling. Thinking back to the British man she had met at lunch the other day, this church didn't match him.

Looking around at the people, Buffy noticed a group of people near the front, by the stage, some of them were sitting in the front row and some were standing. She noticed that Willow was among the people sitting, beside Willow was what looked like a young man, she hadn't expected the man to turn towards her right as she was trying to get a better look at him. She gasped and tried to act normal but when he smiled brightly at her, she knew he had caught her. He had dark brown hair, chocolate eyes and a smile to die for. She did a double take, was he really smiling at her? Yup, definitely smiling at her. He had perfect teeth too, just like the rest of him. Buffy turned away, blushing that he had caught her looking at him and that he had smiled at her. Shyly, she turned her head back towards him to see that he was still smiling at her and for the first time in three years, Buffy smiled.


	3. The Bible

Thank you for the reviews!

Allison117- Hopefully you like this chapter because there is Buffy/Angel interaction in this one. I'm happy that you will be reading my other fic as well. I don't see myself not writing Bangel for a long long time so even if it had been a while since I have posted, know that it's probably because business school is kicking my butt and as soon as I have a break I will be posting again!

Guest- I love that you are getting hooked on this! Yes! I hate it when a great fic just ends and we are left hanging without knowing what is going to happen! Confession time: That's when I normally try to come up with my own ending to the fic. I have recently started reading BuffyL's fics, they aren't on this site but I'm sure if you google the pen name they will come up, there are a couple AU fics on that site. I posted my other fic, it's called Determined by Fate, I hope you like it!

Guest- I am very determined to continue writing Bangel, it makes me sad that we are lacking new stories for my favorite couple. Thank you! And yes, there will be some Buffy and Angel talking in this chapter.

Sorry if you come across any errors, I try to read over it several times before I post it but sadly, I seem to do my best proof reading once it has already been posted. lol

Chapter 3: The Bible

Buffy hadn't realized how much time had passed, she only noticed the dark-haired guy that she was now having a friendly staring contest with, until the lights starting to dim and the guy stood up from his chair. Looking around she noticed that the church was now full and there was even someone sitting beside her. How did she not notice someone had sat next to her? And where was the gorgeous guy going? She wasn't done basking in his hotness. She followed him with her eyes as he walked up onto the stage, she bit her lip as she watched him grab a red and black guitar that was sitting on stage. She was definitely going to hell for the impure thoughts she was having in the middle of church!

The whole band began to play on stage but she still couldn't take her eyes off the gorgeous dark-haired man that was talking to Willow just a few minutes ago. She and Willow had made plans to meet up at The Expresso Pump after Buffy had mentioned that she had never been there before, she would have to ask Willow who this guy was and everything the redhead knew about him.

He locked eyes with Buffy a few minutes into the song and only broke their eye contact a couple of times during the ten-minute set before a man walked up on stage and introduced himself as Pastor Ethan. She zoned Pastor Ethan out as he was talking about upcoming events at the church, instead she watched the man on stage quietly play his guitar in the background. All she could look at was his perfectly muscular arms that were sadly partially hidden beneath his short sleeved black shirt, his lean body, perfect lips, spikey dark hair and her favorite- his dark eyes that seemed to twinkle. After Pastor Ethan left the stage, the band played one more song then left at the same time as Pastor Giles took the stage.

Buffy watched the man take his seat again, grabbing a book… probably a Bible. "Oh crap." Buffy mumbled to herself. She probably should have brought one but honestly, she didn't own one, or at least she didn't think they had one in the house. Her mother might have one in the boxes that still weren't unpacked. That was how they had begun living, never completely unpacking because they were waiting for Buffy to get in enough trouble again to have to find a school that would take her. She decided then that when she got home she was going to start unpacking the leftover boxes, not only because she wanted to make it work for her mom but she was finding that she did like a few people in this town since she had started her community service at the church. The eye candy currently sitting in the front row didn't hurt either.

Buffy looked over at the man again, she was starting to feel like a creeper but she couldn't keep her eyes off him. She watched him pull out a notebook and a pen, along with his Bible. Glancing around she noticed that several other people also had notebooks and pens. Was she supposed to bring that stuff to church? Jenny hadn't mentioned bringing anything.

0o0o0

Buffy stood outside the church after service waiting for her mom, now she was thinking how crazy she must have come off as to everyone that saw her and to that guy that she was undressing with her eyes. Her mother wasn't normally late, in fact, her mother was normally always early when it came to her daughter. She was always worried that if Buffy was left alone then she would get in some form of trouble, which wasn't wrong but it wasn't all the time either. Sometimes Buffy just wanted to stay home and pretend the rest of the world wasn't there, that was normally when one of her friends would call her. By the end of the night they would be in trouble. Her mom was right, she needed to make new friends in Sunnydale that wouldn't get her in trouble. Hopefully Willow would be one of those new friends.

"Excuse me." Buffy heard a male voice from behind her. Suddenly, she got butterflies in her stomach as she turned around, coming face to face with the chocolate eyed Greek God. "Is this your first time here? I don't remember ever seeing you before, and trust me, I would remember you." He offered her a smile.

"Um…" Come on Buffy, say something that at least resembles a sentence. "Yeah." Fail.

"Well, I noticed that you didn't have a notebook or a Bible in there." He smiled again, holding out a red Bible and a black notebook. "Those are two very important things to have around here. We take notes like we are in school. And of course, you can't take notes without a…" He held out a pen, placing it on top of the notebook and Bible in his hand.

Buffy smiled shyly at him before holding her hands out and taking the three items. "Thanks."

"I'm Angel by the way." He offered.

"That explains it." Buffy whispered to herself before she smiled wider. "I'm Buffy."

Angel nodded. "Nice to meet you, Buffy. So, it's your first time here and it looks like you don't have a goodie bag, we should fix that."

"A goodie bag?" She asked, following him as he nodded towards a large red tent outside of the church with several people talking.

"Yeah." Angel looked over to her and smiled. "We call it our VIP tent, its where you can get more information about the church, what we are all about and we can't forget the free gift." Angel walked her over closer to the tent.

"Hey Angel." Buffy heard a familiar sounding voice from inside the tent. She groaned silently, she knew that voice very well in just the three short months she had been attending Sunnydale High.

"Hello Cordelia." He smiled at the tall brunette. Buffy's heart sank, he had smiled at Cordelia the same way he had smiled at her and then there was the fact that she knew Cordelia Chase would tell him what a trouble maker she was. For a brief moment, she thought maybe she could start over, at least while she was at the church she could be Buffy Summers the nice girl without a criminal record.

"This is…" Angel started but Cordelia cut him off.

"Buffy." The high school cheerleader tried to hide her disappointment.

Angel nodded. "Yeah, you two know each other?"

Buffy shook her head. "Not really."

Cordelia raised her eyebrow at the blonde. "More like, we know of each other."

"Oh." Angel nodded with a smile. "Well, this is Buffy's first time here." He turned to Buffy. "Cordelia will take care of you, I will be right back. Don't go anywhere."

Buffy watched as he jogged around the side of the building and disappeared. It wasn't like she could go anywhere, her mother wasn't there to pick her up yet and she couldn't drive herself anywhere for at least another four months, according to the Judge.

"So, what are you doing here, Buffy?" Cordelia whispered so that no one else under the tent could hear her.

"It's a church, Cordelia." Buffy reminded the brunette. "I thought anyone could come here."

"This is MY church." The cheerleader glared. "Don't think for a minute that you are going to come in here and try to take this place away from me with all your bad karma points and if you think Angel is at all interested in you, you have another thing coming!"

The blonde raised her eyebrows in shock, Cordelia made it seem like she was dating Angel but at school she was all over Mitch Fargo. "Don't worry, Cordelia, I don't want your church or Angel." That was a lie, but she didn't want Cordelia to know that. Buffy turned to walk away, just as Angel came back around the side of the building.

"Hey, Buffy!" Angel called out, jogging a little faster to her retreating form. "I thought you were going to wait, I wanted to get you these." He smiled and held out a clear bag with homemade chocolate chip cookies in it.

Buffy shook her head. "You really shouldn't give a girl cookies, they go straight to her hips."

"Oh." Angel looked down at the bag for a moment then held them out to her anyway. "I won't tell if you won't."

Buffy glanced back towards the tent she had come from, at Cordelia Chase, when she noticed that Cordelia wasn't looking at her, she took the bag of cookies from Angel.

"And you didn't get a goodie bag either? Come on." He motioned back towards the tent.

"No, really." Buffy said, holding up her free hand. "It's okay, I don't need one."

Angel shook his head but smiled. "Yes, you do. I will go grab you one." Running over, he grabbed a bag and made his way back. "Everyone should get a free gift."

Buffy gave him a small smile as she took it from his hand. She looked around but still didn't see her mom. "Thanks. I better get going."

"I will walk you to your car, where are you parked?" Angel scanned the parking lot.

Buffy thought for a moment, with her mother's track record there was no way she was just running late. She hoped nothing bad happened to her. "I'm just going to walk home."

"In this heat?" Angel asked shocked. "No way, let me find someone to drive you, or find someone to come with us and I can drive you."

Buffy looked at him slightly confused.

"Here at Awaken we are all about accountability." Angel offered.

"Bummer." Buffy shook her head. "But really, I would prefer to walk. Besides, I think my mom would flip a lid if she saw me in a car with someone else."

"If you are sure." Angel put his hands in his pocket and watched Buffy wave and then begin walking towards the sidewalk before he called out. "Buffy! It was really nice to meet you, I hope to see you again next week."

Buffy nodded before continuing to walk. "He is perfect, of course he wouldn't be available."

0o0o0

"Hey, mom!" Buffy called walking into the house, her mom's car was in the driveway so she knew she was there. Buffy placed her Bible, notebook, pen, and the red gift bag with the mug and cookies in it on the table by the door before peeking into the living room and making her way into the kitchen.

Joyce was drying her hands off on a towel when Buffy walked into the kitchen. "Oh, Sweetie! I'm sorry! I went to the church to pick you up but the young woman standing outside at a tent told me that they were running late and it would be a while. I thought I would have enough time to run back here because I completely forgot my wallet. I wanted to take you out for lunch after you got out but when I walked in there was water all over the floor. Long story short… the basement is flooded."

"Oh my God!" Buffy exclaimed, rushing over to the basement door. "How did that happen? The landlord isn't going to fix that, we learned that the hard way last month when the plumbing went in the upstairs bathroom. We can't afford to fix the hot mess in the basement!"

"I know, sweetie." Joyce nodded. "We are still trying to bounce back from fixing the plumbing. I'm going to ask if anyone at the gallery knows of someone that will work out some kind of payment plan."

Looking down the stairs of the basement, Buffy cringed at the sight of the water halfway up the stairway. "Is it still rising?"

"What?" Joyce asked panicked as she ran over to the basement door. "I don't know… I hope not!"

"That water bill is going to be insane." Buffy pouted.

0o0o0

"Good morning, Buffy!" Jenny said cheerfully as Buffy entered her office. "How is your Monday going?"

Buffy sighed. "Should I start with A?"

"That bad?" Jenny asked. "What's wrong? Come here."

Buffy sat down in the other chair in Jenny's office. "Well, my mom didn't come to pick me up after church yesterday, so I walked home and when I got there… it turns out the basement flooded in our house. We spent all afternoon and most of the night using buckets to get the water out because we didn't know what else to do."

"Oh, my goodness, I'm so sorry, Buffy!" Jenny exclaimed.

Buffy took a deep breath. "We got a good amount of the water out and we tried about a million and one ways to temporarily fix the pipe but we had to turn the water off so now we have no water and until my mom can find someone that will work out some kind of payment plan, we just don't have any water."

Jenny wrote something down on the notepad in front of her. "Does your mother own the home?"

Buffy shook her head. "We are renting but the landlord refused to do anything when the plumbing got all backed up last month which is why we have no money to fix the pipe."

"Who is your landlord?" Jenny wondered.

Buffy sighed. "Something Snitch… I don't know."

"Will Snitch?" Jenny asked, which earned a nod from the young blonde. "People call him Willy the Snitch, you won't get any help from him. He is a horrible landlord, we pray for him here."

"Yeah, well… rent was cheap and it was what we could afford." Buffy shrugged. She knew she was the reason for their money problems, if she hadn't gotten kicked out of school so much they wouldn't have to move.

"We will add you to the prayer list." Jenny offered. "I'm sure everything will work out."

Buffy nodded and made her way out the door and to the classrooms that she needed to sanitize and re-organize. As soon as Buffy walked out, Jenny pulled out a folder from her filing cabinet, wrote something down and headed out of her office, turning down the opposite hallway as Buffy.

Making it out to the foyer of the church, Jenny spotted exactly who she was looking for. "There you boys are! I need a favor."

0o0o0

Joyce walked out of the kitchen when she heard the front door open, she gave her daughter a small smile. "Hey, mom… who's truck is in the driveway? And what is that sound?" The blonde made a face when she heard clanking and what sounded like a drill of some kind.

Joyce smiled even bigger. "There are a few guys working on the basement. Are you all done with your community service for the day? I need to get going to the gallery, I have a meeting with a potential artist for an art showing. I didn't want to leave strange men in the house alone but at the rate they seem to be going they should be done soon. They are such fast workers! All that water that we couldn't get out last night, they got it out in just a few minutes!"

"Yeah, I'm done." She answered her mother. "I take it someone from the gallery knew of someone that would make a plan with you?"

Joyce shook her head as she grabbed her purse off the desk in the living room. "Not off the top of their heads, they said they would ask around. I was so afraid that there would be a lot of damage to the house if we didn't get it fixed as soon as poss… Buffy." Her mother paused as she made her way to the door. "I never called a plumber to come."

Buffy gave her mother a slightly panicked look. "Then who is down in the basement?"

"I… I don't know…" Joyce stuttered. "Oh God! What do you think they are doing?"

Buffy listened for a second. "It sounds like they are fixing the pipes, mom." Joyce was about to set her purse down to go into the basement, there were strange men in her house doing only God knows what. Buffy stopped her from taking her purse off, she needed to get to this meeting, you never know who could make the gallery successful and it could be this potential artist. "Mom, just go to the gallery. I will take care of this."

"Are you sure, Buffy?" Joyce asked her daughter, she received a pointed look from her daughter. Placing a quick kiss to Buffy's cheek, she re-adjusted her purse on her shoulder. "You really are a good kid, Buffy."

Making her way towards the open basement door, she could hear a man talking about some damage in the corner of the basement that didn't look like it had been caused by the flood but the flood didn't help it any. She slowly went down the first couple of steps until a man that was kneeling to tighten a pipe came into view, she would know that backside anywhere. "Angel?"

He turned to look towards the stairs when he heard his name, he smiled and set down his tools he had been using. "Hey Buffy."

"What are you doing here?" She asked, then looked towards the other two men. "And Oz… right?"

The shorter redhead nodded.

"Hey there." Another dark-haired man stepped up, from the sound of his voice he was the one that was talking about the damage in the corner. "It seems that we are the only ones that don't know each other. I'm Xander Harris."

"Buffy Summers." She responded, and shook his outreached hand. "How did you… wait, Jenny… right?"

Angel nodded.

"Of course, it was." Buffy nodded. "The people my mom talked to didn't know of anyone and Jenny was the only one that I had vented to about it. Thank you for doing this."

Angel wiped his hands on his old jeans and smiled. "It's not a problem."

Buffy looked between the three men. "How much is this going to cost? I mean, if you leave the damage in the corner as is…"

Xander gasped, as if it was a mortal sin to leave the damage.

"Nothing." Angel took a step closer to the blonde. "It's on the house."

"Nothing is on the house." Buffy brushed her hair behind her ear before crossing her arms over her chest. "Well, except for that time when I threw my frisbee on the roof when I was like eight and my dad had to get it down… that, that was on the house, but it was a different kind of on the house. The on the house that you are referring to…" She pointed to Angel. "… doesn't exist."

Angel smiled at the blonde's babbling. "Of course, it does."

"No, it doesn't." Buffy challenged him.

Angel took a couple steps closer to her, and whispered. "Buffy, can't you just allow me to do something for you?"

Buffy tilted her head up to look at him, he was so close, she could smell his cologne and if she just leaned a little further she could kiss him. "Why?"

Angel smirked at her and leaned closer to her, still whispering. "Maybe I like you."

"Maybe?" Buffy whispered back.

"Yeah." Angel nodded. "Maybe."

"Do you guys know we are still in the room?" Xander asked, holding his hand up and waving at the pair.

Oz shook his head. "I don't think they do."

Angel took a step back, shaking his head and pulling himself out of his daze. There was something about the small blonde that made him act differently. He had been thinking about her all night and today, he was lucky that his professor had gotten sick and class was cancelled because he never would have been able to focus in class. His mind just kept drifting to the beautiful blonde that he had caught staring at him in church.


	4. Oh, you make me smile

Jan- Yes! That is one of my favorite Bangel moments, it's so cute, I had to use it!

Jubi2- Thank you! The more reviews I get the faster I am writing.

Sassy.B93- I am definitely continuing with this for as long as possible! On the plus side, I found out that my classes got pushed back to August 14th, so I have a week longer to write than I thought. Thank you for your review!

Allison117- I'm happy that it is different! Thank you so much!

Guest- I love some Buffy and Angel flirting almost as much as I love Buffy and Angel kissage. Haha Cordelia was known to stir things up a bit.

Chapter 4: Oh, you make me smile

Buffy wondered around her house, she wanted to stay downstairs just in case Angel, Oz or Xander needed anything. She couldn't believe that they were fixing the pipe that had burst in the basement for free. Something wasn't right there, nothing was ever free. Maybe she should do something for them to say thank you, she just didn't know what. She didn't even know them, so she didn't know what they would like. The only thing she knew about Angel and Oz is that they went to church, maybe there was a Christian store somewhere in Sunnydale. Was that stupid? It probably was, but she didn't know what else to do. She would have to ask her mom if she knew of a Christian store nearby, her mother ventured out much more than she did.

At the sound of the phone ringing, Buffy made her way into the living room where the phone was sitting on the desk. Looking down at the caller ID, she knew if she picked that phone up it would only end badly, but just like always, she lifted her hand to answer the phone, but then she paused with her hand still hovering over the phone. Did she really want to go there? Turning her head towards the entrance of the living room, she dropped her hand when she heard Angel's voice, letting the phone continue to ring.

Angel glanced into the living room in search of Buffy, he smiled when he saw her standing by the desk. He paused, wondering if she was going to answer the phone but instead she turned completely towards him and smiled. "Hey, Buffy." He greeted her. "We are going to head out, I have a class in a little bit but we will be back tomorrow morning."

"Oh." She whispered, she would be at the church tomorrow morning and every other day until she met the 200 hours of community service. Jenny had informed her that if she went every day then her community service would be over at the end of the month. She felt like Principal Snyder was being hard on her, she hadn't done anything too bad since arriving at Sunnydale… not in school anyway. Just a few fights, here and there. But then again, Snyder was known for his strict rules. "I won't be here but I will let my mom know that you will be stopping by. She will probably have to go to work but I will tell her you won't rob us blind or anything."

"Don't put anything past Xander." Oz said seriously.

"Hey!" Xander pouted.

Angel shook his head. "I promise, no one will steal anything."

"Hey, Angel." Oz nodded towards the front door. "We should get going, you need to grab your textbooks before heading to class."

Angel nodded, and Buffy had every intention of letting them leave but instead, she wondered out loud. "So, you are a college student?"

Turning back to Buffy, Angel smiled. "Yeah, I go to Sunnydale University."

"I thought you looked too old for high school." Buffy mumbled.

Angel raised his eyebrows, surprised. "Old?"

Oz and Xander both laughed. "I told you man." Oz laughed harder.

Xander bent over, laughing. "It's the crow feet and bags."

"No!" Buffy shook her head. "Not old, old… just older than high school age. Oh boy."

Angel laughed at her reaction. "Don't worry about it." He then turned to Xander and Oz. "I don't have bags."

"Just crow feet." Oz said seriously.

Angel turned back to Buffy, seriously. "Do I have crow feet?"

Buffy shook her head frantically.

Angel smiled again and whispered. "If I did, you would have to tell me some girly secrets to get rid of them."

Buffy giggled, she had never giggled like that before. What was wrong with her? Oh, yeah, this drop dead gorgeous guy turned her into a giggly little school girl. Not even Pike did that!

"I'm only twenty-one, if I have wrinkles already, I'm in trouble." He whispered jokingly.

Buffy smiled. "Don't feel bad, I'm sure I am getting wrinkles."

"No, you aren't." Angel tilted his head to the side. "You have the look though."

"The look?" She asked.

"Yeah." Angel whispered, lifting his hand to her face, he lightly traced her jawline with his knuckle. "Like you had to grow up way to fast."

Buffy shivered at the light touch.

"…and we are no longer in the room again." Xander turned to Oz.

Angel lightly shook his head, lowered his hand and took a step back. He felt like when he looked in her eyes, the whole world fell away and there was just Buffy. She was really going to be the end of him. "We should really… uh…" Angel took another step back, putting space between him and the girl that was quickly becoming the object of his affection. "…get going."

"Okay." Buffy whispered.

"I don't think anything will happen before tomorrow but if it does…" Angel grabbed a blank piece of paper from the desk and a pen. "If it does, feel free to call me." He smiled as he took a step backwards towards his friends, his eyes never leaving the blonde. "Will I see you on Sunday?"

Buffy smiled. "You're fixing our burst pipe for free, you can see me every Sunday."

"Good." He whispered, he felt his friends grab the back of his shirt and tug on backwards gently.

Once they were outside, Xander shut the Summers' front door. "You are going to be so late for class, man."

"It's worth it." Angel smiled, following his friends towards the truck.

Oz laughed as he opened the work truck door. "You got it bad."

0o0o0

The next morning Buffy smiled as she poured some beads out of the large container and put them in six smaller containers that would be used for the kid's craft on Sunday. She couldn't stop thinking about Angel and how he had acted towards her, there was no way he was dating Cordelia if he acted like that… right? Just a simple touch on her face from him had sent shivers through her whole body, she felt like she could still feel his knuckle lightly on her jaw.

"Hey, Buffy." Jenny smiled at the blonde as she walked into the classroom. When Buffy didn't respond she tried again. "Earth to Buffy…."

Buffy shook her head. "Sorry, Jenny. Good morning."

"You seemed liked you were a million miles away." Jenny said, leaning against the doorframe. "Is everything okay?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, it's great. Thanks for sending Angel and the guys over to help with the basement. It means a lot."

"Of course." Jenny smiled. "How's it going? I hope it doesn't take too long to fix everything, between class and work, I know the boys will get it done as soon as they can."

"It's going great." Buffy nodded, picking up a few beads that she had dropped. "Angel said they would be back this morning to work on it some more. I feel like Xander wants to remodel the whole basement though."

Jenny laughed. "Yeah, that is Xander for you. So…" The woman walked further into the room, sitting in the small green children's chair across from Buffy. "What's with the smile? Tell me everything."

Buffy laughed and shook her head. "I don't really know…"

"You have a thousand-watt smile on your face but you don't know why?" Jenny laughed again.

"I kind of… met someone." Buffy shrugged with a small smile, she looked up at Jenny, who was smiling even bigger now. "I don't know exactly how he feels about me, but I think he might like me too."

"Tell me all about him!" Jenny exclaimed.

"Well, he's super sweet and helpful and caring and…" Buffy smiled dreamily. "Totally hot." She paused for a second before whispering. "Am I allowed to say that here?"

The dark-haired woman laughed. "Of course, you are. Physical attraction is important when picking a future spouse but then again so is the super sweet, helpful and caring part. What is even more important is that he is a follower of Christ."

Buffy nodded. "He is!... but I'm not. I don't know the first thing about God or the Bible."

"Well, I guess you are in the right place then." Jenny teased. "If you have any questions anyone here is more than happy to help you, Buffy. You know who would be a great person to ask?"

"Who?"

"Angel." Jenny smiled. "He has a real passion for God's word, he has helped people come to Christ in the past."

"Really?" Buffy asked, wouldn't it be embarrassing to ask Angel for help to learn about God?

"Of course!" Jenny exclaimed. "He's great with beginners too. You should ask him the next time you see him."

0o0o0

Buffy walked in the front door of her house, she smiled when she realized that the truck was still outside. She set her belongings down on the dining room table and made her way into the kitchen to see how the guys were doing. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she just wanted to see Angel, nope, none at all. She could hear the guys talking in the basement while they worked.

"You like her, maybe even love her." Buffy heard Xander say. "Plus, if you get with her then we will have another Worship band member dating someone in Kids Min."

"Who else from Worship is dating someone in Kids Min?" Angel wondered.

"Devon." Xander answered simply. Buffy wondered which one was Devon, but then again, on Sunday she only noticed Angel on the stage.

"Who is Devon dating from Kids Min?" Angel asked, his voice sounded a little further way, he must have walked further into the basement as he talked.

Xander sighed. "Cordelia."

"They broke up." She heard Oz say, and then the sound of a heavy tool hitting the hard floor.

"And Cordelia only lasted in Kids Min for ONE Sunday." Angel said with a slight laugh in his voice. "Did you really ever imagine Cordelia working with kid's week after week?"

"Yeah…" There was a long pause from Xander. "Okay, no, but I thought she would have tried to stick it out to impress either Devon or Angel."

"Me?!" Angel asked, shocked. Buffy leaned against the doorframe of the basement, getting more comfortable as she eavesdropped on her crush and his friends.

"Oh, come on!" Xander exclaimed.

"You know, she has had a thing for you since she first met you." Oz told Angel, Buffy froze when she could see part of Oz at the bottom of the stairs from the angle she was standing at. She wasn't very good at explaining herself out of situations if she was caught, that was normally Faith's area.

"She's totally got a yin for your yang." Xander paused. "That sounded a lot less Christian out loud."

"It's true." Oz agreed. "But I think that Buffy IS the yin to your yang."

Buffy perked up at the sound of her name. They were talking about her and Angel now!

"YES!" Xander exclaimed excitedly.

"When did this become about me?" Angel asked his friends. "We were talking about Oz and Willow."

"We were." Xander agreed. "But you have got it bad my Angel shaped friend."

"Feelings mutual." Oz said, picking up a tool from the toolbox sitting on the first step and walking away from the bottom of the stairs.

"You think?" Angel asked, almost sounding hopeful.

After a moment of silence, Xander asked. "Isn't Buffy doing Kids Min too? If you two got together and Oz and Willow got together… What is it with Worship and Kids Min? It's like those two Ministries are drawn together."

"Yeah, she is." Oz answered.

"How is Buffy doing Kids Min?" Angel asked his friend. "She said Sunday was her first time there."

Buffy took a deep breath, Oz already knew at least part of the reason why she was at the church and doing the Kids Ministry. She didn't know what Angel would think about her when Oz told him.

"I don't know." Xander said. "Isn't that what Jenny said, Oz? That Buffy was pretty much her right-hand woman and she wouldn't get anything done if it wasn't for Buffy?"

"Yup." Oz confirmed. "That's what she said yesterday."

"I didn't think I had imagined that." She heard Xander say. "So, Oz and Willow, you and Buffy and me and my Gameboy. Then we are all happy."

Angel laughed. "Yeah, that is all you need to be happy, Xander."

Even though Buffy wanted to know more about what Angel thought about her, she felt bad for listening in on his conversation with his friends. She hadn't found out a lot of information about how he felt about her but she now knew for a fact that Cordelia wasn't dating Angel, which only made Cordelia slightly less of a hoe because she was certainly all over Mitch at school. Knowing Cordelia though, she had probably already moved on from Mitch. Taking a deep breath again, Buffy stood up straight and started for the basement stairs. "Hey guys." Buffy smiled. "How's it going?"

"Great!" Xander smiled back at the blonde. "Right, Angel?"

Angel nodded with a smile, locking eyes with the small blonde.

Xander and Oz smiled at each other. Their best friend definitely had it bad for the blonde.

"Do you guys need anything?" Buffy asked, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. "A drink? Snack?"

"Not necessary." Oz said.

"Hey!" Xander exclaimed. "Speak for yourself! Do you have any Cheetos?"

Buffy laughed. "Yeah, I think we probably do and it is necessary because I could actually shower this morning. You guys are life savers! Angel?" Buffy turned towards the tall dark-haired man. "Would you like anything?"

"Yeah." He smiled, he looked slightly dazed.

"Okay." Buffy chuckled. "What would you like? If we don't have it, I will even head to the closest store to get it."

Oz looked from his friend to Buffy and back again. These two crazy kids needed to work out some pent-up tension, but he knew his friend to well, that wasn't going to happen. He had never seen Angel like this in the fifteen years that he had known him. "Really, Buffy, you don't have to go through any trouble."

"It's no trouble at all." She assured Oz. "Anything you guys want, just let me know. And…" Buffy pointed to Xander. "One bag of Cheetos, coming up." Pointing to the other two men. "Anything else?"

Oz looked to Angel then shook his head. "I think we are good."

Buffy nodded, then made her way back up the stairs to grab Xander's snack.

"We all know what Angel wants." Xander laughed once Buffy was out of the basement.

Angel rolled his eyes and turned back to evaluating the water damage on the wall. "Shut up, Xander."

0o0o0

Buffy was leaning over the island in the kitchen reading a magazine, she told herself it was just in case the guys needed anything, ever since she had told them just to let her know if they needed anything Xander had been asking for drinks and snacks but she also wanted to know if they were talking about her or if she could learn more about Angel.

She heard the three men walking up the basement stairs, she looked up at them to ask if they were done but when she saw Angel's smile, she couldn't find the words.

"Hey, Buffy." Angel greeted her walking over to the island across. "We are going to take a short break."

"Gotta go potty, gotta go potty!" Xander chanted as he ran past them.

Buffy laughed. "To much juice? I told him it wasn't a good idea."

Oz laughed at the blonde. "One thing you will learn about Xander, he never listens."

Glancing down at her magazine, Buffy smiled. "What are you guys doing down there anyway? I thought you had already fixed the pipe yesterday."

"We did." Angel nodded.

"We were just going to repair the damage done from the water." Oz told her.

"But…" Angel paused. "There is damage down there that will get a lot worse if it isn't repaired now, so we thought we would just do it for you guys now."

"And we could enforce the materials so that damage can't be done again later on." Oz offered.

Angel leaned against the kitchen island. "Xander has it in his head that we should just convert the basement into a lounge area or game room for you, I told him we would have to ask your parents about that."

"It's…" Buffy paused, then spoke softly. "It's just me and my mom."

"I'm sorry." Angel apologized to her. "I didn't know."

"Where is your dad?" Xander asked, earning a pointed look from Angel.

Buffy shrugged. "He's been MIA for a while, I mean… he called about 3-ish months ago but I haven't seen him in a couple years."

"Why not?" Xander pushed.

When Buffy didn't answer, Angel jumped in. "At least he called though, right?"

Buffy nodded, he had only called to yell at Buffy for stealing the car with Pike and told her that she was never to see Pike, Benny and Faith again. But she had, as soon as Buffy had told them that she and her mother were moving to Sunnydale, the trio showed up and on their first night the police picked them up for underaged drinking in a cemetery. She didn't know if her dad had known about that incident or if he was just ignoring her now. She was really proud of herself for not answering the phone when Pike called the night before. He had called back several times but she didn't answer, she didn't feel like she needed to. After Pike had called her several times, she took the phone off the hook so it would stop ringing. Since meeting Jenny Giles, Buffy felt a lot better, she had someone in her corner that didn't think she was a bad person and that was enough. Even though her mother often told her that she wasn't a bad kid, the way they had been living, half still in boxes, showed her that her mother was just waiting for her to screw up again. Buffy was determined to show her that she wasn't going to screw up again. When her mother had gotten home from work she was upset that she had been unable to get ahold of Buffy with the phone off the hook but when Buffy had told her mother why it was off the hook, her mother had told her she was proud of her. It had been a while since her mother had said that, and it felt good.

"And you rent too, right?" Oz asked. "To make that big of a change you would have to ask your landlord."

"Jenny had mentioned Snitch." Xander said as Buffy handed him another bag of chips. "And one of those little juice boxes?" Buffy let out an amused chuckle. Oz was right, Xander did listen. Standing up, she went to the fridge to grab a juice box for Xander.

"He wouldn't care." Angel said, watching Buffy walk back over to where he magazine of sitting on the counter. "Anything to make his property look better and charge more, he's fine with."

"Angel would know." Oz nodded. "He has had the luxury of dealing with him before."

"It's not a luxury I would like to have again." Angel said seriously to Oz, then turn back to Buffy. "But if you want me to, I can talk to him for you."

Buffy smiled at Angel, he was about to smile back when he realized Xander was making a kissy face behind Buffy's back.

"I would have to talk to my mom about that." She looked back down at her magazine, toying with one of the pages. "She doesn't really like to deal with him either."

"Well, if your mom wants me to, I would be happy to talk to him for you." Angel smiled, still trying to ignore Xander who now had his arms wrapped around an invisible person, making out with the air.

Buffy turn around to look at Xander, he quickly grabbed his juice box trying to act normal. "Just be happy that you didn't get his brother, Merle, as your landlord. He's worse."


	5. Memories

Allison117- It isn't weird that you are living for this story at all, because I am living for writing it right now! I literally finished chapter 4 early this afternoon and started on this chapter right away. I wrote this one pretty fast, I hope you like this one. As soon as I post this one, I will start editing the next chapter of Determined by Fate and I should have it uploaded by tonight!

Guest-Thank you! I have been told many times that I can capture Xander really well, he is one of my favorite characters, so I love to hear that.

Jan- I don't plan on having Spike as Buffy's romantic interest in this one. I know I have in the past, but not this time!

I hope you all like this chapter! Two chapters in one day! I feel accomplish! I don't know if I will get much writing done tomorrow because I have to go to campus and deal with my Business advisor to get signed up for all new classes since there was a professor that is taking the semester off and I just happened to be enrolled in his classes. I will try to at least post a chapter of Determined by Fate since those chapters are already written.

Chapter 5: Memories

"Hey!" Buffy called down to the basement. "It's getting kind of late…"

Angel jogged up the basement stairs. "Sorry about that, do you need us to go?"

Buffy shrugged. "My mom called and she said she is going to be working late, I was just wondering if you guys wanted to stay for pizza. I mean, I know Xander has been eating all afternoon but you and Oz…"

"Sure." Angel smiled. "That sounds good. We will just finish up what we are working on really fast and wrap it up."

"Okay." She whispered with a smile as Angel went back down the stairs to tell his friends.

Buffy went back to cleaning up the house a little, she had realized that she hadn't been helping her mom around the house and it dawned on her that it all started when she met Pike and Benny that night at the movie theaters when she was with her friends.

0o0o0

Two Years Ago

Buffy sat slouched down in the movie theater seat, her feet propped up on the seat in front of her, with her two best friends Nicole and Kimberly on each side of her, and Jennifer beside Kimberly. The four of them had been best friends for years, there was never a time when you would see one without the other three. They were the most popular girls at Hemery, all the girls wanted to be them and all the guys wanted to date them. The four girls laughed at nothing in particular as they ate their popcorn and sipped on their Diet Coke.

"Your parents are always going out of town." Jennifer said, turning to Buffy before looking back at the movie screen. None of them even knew what this movie was about, it was just something to do for them. "You are so lucky!"

Buffy suddenly got quiet, it was nice if her parents went out of town once in a while but then it started to be every weekend. She had found out it was because they were going to couples retreats and therapy to try to save their marriage. Now, it was meetings with lawyers and dividing up possessions. She hadn't shared that information with her friends yet, though. "I guess."

"My mom never leaves the house." Jennifer laughed, clearly not even registering that Buffy wasn't in a bubbly mood anymore. "She even does the shopping network! Gawd! I'm going to die a virgin!"

"You could like, have any guy over for the weekend you wanted." Kimberly smiled, wiggling her eyebrows at the blonde. "Your parents would NEVER know."

"Oh, gawd!" Nicole gushed. "You are so totally lucky! I would kill to have my parents gone that much!"

"I'm fifteen." Buffy reminded them. "Who am I going to have over other than you guys?"

All three of the other girls laughed. "Does it matter?" Kimberly asked.

"Yeah!" Jennifer gushed. "Just think of all the football players!"

"Or the basketball players!" Kimberly added.

"Or even the chess team!" Nicole nodded.

Buffy, Kimberly and Jennifer all looked at Nicole, silently asking if she was serious.

"What?" Nicole asked, tossing some popcorn into her mouth. "They are boys too."

Suddenly all four girls burst out laughing.

"Oh, my gawd!" Kimberly laughed. "Look at that guy!"

"Where?" Buffy asked looking around the movie theater.

"Right there!" Kimberly pointed to a man that was trying to make it back to his seat with popcorn in his hand. "He is SO bald!"

"Would you shut up!" A male voice exclaimed from behind the four friends.

Buffy turned around to see a thin punk looking kid with his blonde hair spiked and a stockier dark-haired kid, both wearing all black. "Yeah, like that's going to happen!"

The two boys threw handfuls of popcorn at Buffy.

"Boooo!" The blonde guy shouted.

"You suck!" The dark-haired boy shouted.

"Wrong answer!" The blonde guy shouted again. "No prize!"

"Gawd!" Nicole rolled her eyes. "Take a chill pill!"

Kimberly rolled her eyes next. "Like we don't have rights too?"

"Ignore them." Buffy shook her head, turning back around to face the large screen.

"I can't believe these people!" The dark-haired boy exclaimed, putting his ratty beat up black boots on the back of the seat in front of him. "We paid money to see this!"

The blonde shook his head. "No, we didn't."

"Oh yeah." The dark-haired boy shrugged. "But I still want to know what happens."

Buffy spun around quickly to look at the two boys. "Everyone gets horribly, horribly, killed except for the blonde girl in the nightie, who finally kills the monster with a machete but it's not really dead."

Both boys stared at her with their mouths hanging open.

"Oh, my gawd!" Jennifer looked at her best friend, seriously. "Is that true?"

"Probably." Buffy shrugged. All these movies were the same these days. "What movie is this, again?"

Later that night, the same two boys walked into the dinner. The blonde sighed dramatically when he heard the crappy music coming from the old jukebox against the wall, walking over to it, he kicked it. Buffy rolled her eyes at the behavior.

"Hey!" A brunette waitress called over to him.

"The fifties are over!" The other defended his friend.

The waitress looked around, she hated working the overnight shift. "Don't give me any trouble, okay?"

"No trouble." The blonde held up his hands. "We just want to eat."

The two boys sat beside Buffy and her friends, earning an annoyed look from Buffy. Both of the boys pulled all their money out of their pockets, setting it on the counter in a pile.

"Come on, come on!" The blonde said to his friend. "Where is the rest?"

The other boy shrugged. "That's it, man!"

"We're looking at a dog." The blonde boy shifted through some of the change on the counter. "Possibly a coffee." He dug around in the pocket of his black jeans for a moment and pulled out a quarter. "It's a coffee."

"Amazing!" The other boy exclaimed happily.

Kimberly looked to Buffy and their other two friends. "Smell of booze much."

"Totally." Nicole agreed with Kimberly.

The blonde boy turned to the waitress, who didn't look impressed. "Can we have a hot dog, please, medium rare and a cup of joe?"

Buffy turned to the two boys sitting next to her. "You guys are trashed."

Jennifer's eye got large with shock. "What are you talking to them for?"

The dark-haired boy looked at Buffy. "What did you say?"

"Yeah, we're drunk." The blonde guy agreed with Buffy. "We are The Drunks. What's your name?"

"Buffy." She answered nonchalantly.

The stockier boy rolled his head. "Figures."

"Do people ever call you 'Buffy the Buffalo'?" The blonde asked seriously. "I'm just wondering."

Buffy simply gave him an unimpressed look.

"They don't." He deducted. "But you wish they would, though."

"Wit-tay." Kimberly rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. "I'm Pike." He pointed to his dark-haired friend. "This is Benny."

"Pike isn't a name." Buffy replied. "It's a fish."

"Hey!" Pike exclaimed. "Wait a minute!"

"You are the guys from the movies!" Benny shouted when he realized what his best friend had also realized.

"We hate you guys!" Pike smiled.

All four of the girls turned to each other and pretended to be sad.

"You guys were way rude." Pike nodded. "It was shocking."

"Oh please!" Nicole scuffed. "You guys snuck in anyway."

"So, you had to ruin the movie for us?" Pike asked. "You know, other people have feelings too."

"Other people, maybe." Kimberly brushed her brown hair behind her ear. "But not you."

The waitress brought the boys hot dog and coffee over to them before hurrying away. There was only one things she hated more than working this late at night and that was working this late at night with drunks coming in.

Benny grabbed their hot dog out of the bun and put it down in front of his crotch. "Hey, Buffy! You hungry? I got something for you…"

Kimberly, Nicole and Jennifer looked down at what he was doing and started to shriek with disgust and shock.

Buffy made eye contact with Benny as she quickly grabbed the hot dog out of his hand, slid off the bar stool and threw the hot dog on the floor before stomping on it.

Benny looked from the hot dog on the floor to Buffy and then to his friend. "Hey! She wasted my dog!"

"Bummer." Pike smiled at Buffy.

"Rich bitches!" Benny exclaimed as he started to walk towards the door of the dinner. "They're a plaque. They must be stopped!"

Pike started to follow his friend, he stopped at the door before turning around and smiling at Buffy. "I don't know, Buffy is pretty cute."

"They're all the same!" Benny shouted walking out into the night, as if he didn't even hear his friend. "They're so stuck up! It's like… it's like they aren't even human!"

"But would you still sleep with them?" Pike asked walking away from the diner.

"Yes." Benny nodded. "Definitely. Definitely, yes. Please God!"

"You don't even like them, but you would sleep with them?" Pike asked, he and Benny had always had different views when it came to relationships. Pike was more about having a connection, while Benny just wanted sex. "What's that about?"

"News flash, for ya, man!" Benny shouted, turning around to look at his friend. "If I don't get some tonight, I will have sex with you!"

Pike laughed quietly and shook his head. "Oh yeah, and then you will never call me again.

0o0o0

Present Day

Angel, Xander and Oz had just finished washing their hands when the doorbell rang, Buffy was just about to open the door when Angel jogged up behind her. "I got it."

"Angel, I asked you guys…" Buffy trailed off when Angel gave the delivery guy some money and took the pizza's.

Angel nodded at the young man. "Keep the change." He looked to Buffy. "Where would you like it?"

"Doesn't matter." Buffy shrugged. "The dining room or the living room are both fine." She watched Xander get comfortable in the over-stuffed chair in the living room that used to belong to her Grandmother. "The living room it is." She motioned to Xander. "I will get some plates and drinks."

Angel smiled at her as she walked into the kitchen then went to put the pizza's on the coffee table in the center of the couch and two chairs. When Buffy came back, Xander was the first one to dig into the pizza box. Buffy grabbed one slice of pepperoni and sat on the couch, Angel sat on the other end of the couch while Oz sat in the leftover chair. Buffy glanced at all three of the guys when they closed their eyes and lowered their heads. "Heavenly Father." Angel began. "Thank you for bringing us together tonight for this meal. The people in our lives bring us such joy and we are grateful for the time spent together." Buffy looked around the room as Angel was praying before lowering her own head and closing her eyes. "Help us use this time to bond closer as a group, and learn how to love each other more." Buffy opened her eyes briefly to see if everyone else was still doing the same thing, before she closed her eyes again. "Bless our appetites, both physically and spiritually to honor You in all that we do. In Jesus' Name. Amen."

"Short and sweet! Just how I like it." Xander clapped his hands before beginning to eat.

"So, Angel." Buffy turned to look at him. "What are you going to college for?"

"My major is Seminary Studies." Angel smiled, he was always so proud to talk about his schooling. "Youth Pastor to be exact."

"Oh, wow." Jenny really wasn't joking when she said he was good at helping beginners. "That's… awesome."

"Angel is all about helping the youth." Xander nodded.

"Yeah, he's a real stickler for youth education too." Oz added.

Angel shrugged. "I don't want to say I was a nerd growing up…"

"He was a nerd!" Xander confirmed. "Straight A's all the time."

"What about you, Buffy?" Angel asked trying to get the attention off him. "I know you are still in high school but have you thought about college?"

Buffy took a deep breath. "I used to think about college, it hasn't really been on my radar lately."

"When you did think about college…" Angel said after taking a drink of his water. "What was it that you wanted to go for?"

"I used to want to be a lawyer, like my dad." Buffy shrugged. "But I can't anymore."

"Not anymore?" Oz asked taking a bite of his pizza.

Buffy thought for a moment. "I don't have the grades for it anymore."

Angel set his plate of pizza down on the coffee table. "What are your grades now?"

Sucking on her tongue for a second, Buffy looked at Angel. "Let's just say, I'm lucky if I make it to twelfth grade."

"What seems to be the problem?" Angel wondered. If Buffy really wanted to become a lawyer like her father then he wanted to help her bring her grades up as much as he could.

"The math." Buffy nodded, then let out an exaggerated breath. ".. and the history, the English, and the school in general. Snyder seems to have it out for me."

"Oh, that troll." Angel nodded.

Buffy gasped excitedly. "That's what I call him too! I'm pretty sure my mom is going to murder me every time so I try not to call him that in front of her but sometimes it just slips!"

All three of the boys laughed.

"You just have to hit him where it hurts." Xander offered.

Buffy raised her eyebrows at Xander. "And where is that, Mr. Harris?"

"Your grades." Angel smiled. "Focus on your school work."

"And behavior." Oz added, knowing that Buffy must be having issues with that or Snyder wouldn't have sent her to Awaken Church to begin with. "Stay off his radar and you will be fine."

Xander nodded in agreement. "Keep your head down and your grades up, he won't have anything to get all over you about."

"You are one to talk, Xander!" Oz laughed. "The only reason you kept your grades up was because Angel sat next to you in most of your classes."

"Don't remind me." Angel shook his head. "I don't condemn cheating."

"We know Dudley Do-Right!" Xander shouted. "I only made it through my finals senior year because of Willow."

Angel and Oz busted out laughing. "Who was only fourteen years old at the time!" Angel laughed harder.

Buffy smiled brightly at the sound of Angel's laughter, she was pretty sure she was in love. It was a new feeling for her, the only relationship she had ever had was with Pike. She had cared about Pike, she still did in a way but it definitely wasn't love.

"So, Buffy, enquiring minds want to know… meaning me." Xander shrugged. "Are you saved?" Xander waited patiently for her answer, he knew that Angel would only get involved with someone that first off was a Christian and second, he was serious about. He knew Angel was serious about Buffy, anyone could see that.

"Saved?" Buffy asked. "Saved from what?"

"He means have you accepted Jesus as your personal Savior." Angel explained.

"Oh. That's a load." Buffy raised her eyebrows. "N… no, I'm not… saved. I think I'm to screwed up and a mess for that."

"That's not how it works, Buffy." Angel gave her a small smile and moved closer to her on the couch. "You don't fix yourself before you accept the Lord, you come to him bruised and broken and he fixes you."

"There is a lot of me that needs fixing." Buffy whispered to him.

"Haven't you heard?" Angel smiled wider. "There isn't anything God can't fix. I can help you… if you want me too."

"Yeah." Buffy nodded with a smile. "I would like that."


	6. I Like It Here

Sassy.B93- Thank you for the review! I'm so happy that you love it!

Guest- I'm really enjoying writing this story and I'm thankful that my writers block is gone! I had been suffering from writers block for a little while, mostly because school was just so hectic, it was hard to focus on anything else and then unwind from the semester. I'm happy that I have gotten back to writing a chapter a day.

Chapter 6: I Like It Here

While spending a couple hours talking to the guys, mostly Angel because Xander was eating and Oz stayed quiet a lot, Buffy felt inspired. She told herself that she was going to do better in school, which she had to go back to at the beginning of next week, so she was going to start hitting the books. One of those books that she intended to hit was the Bible. Angel spoke about the Bible and God with such passion that she wanted to know more, she wanted to experience that passion too. Heading up stairs to her room, she picked up the Bible Angel had given her on the first day they met from her dresser. Angel had told her that God should always come first, so that was what she intended to do. First, she would read some of the Bible and then dive into her homework. Sitting down on her bed, Buffy got comfortable and opened the book. "Genisis" She whispered. "In the beginning God created Heaven and the Earth. Hmm, this isn't so confusing." Sinking back into her pillows, she continued reading. "The Earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep. The deep of what?" She asked herself.

Buffy was so engrossed in what she was reading, she didn't even hear her mother come home. It frustrated Buffy that about forty-five minutes into reading the Bible she was so confused that she had given up and changed her focus to something else that equally frustrated her- History.

"Hey Sweetie." Joyce said, peaking into her daughter's room, Joyce was taken back when she saw her daughter sitting on her bed with a textbook open and a notebook in her lap. "What are you doing?"

Buffy shrugged. "Just brushing up on some of my History since I'm going back to school next week."

Joyce raised her eyebrows at her daughter's response.

Buffy got worried when she saw the expression on her mother's face. She used to enjoy school, but the last couple years she stopped caring, now she wanted to stop not caring. She wanted to start getting back to who she used to be, or an even better version of who she used to be, that might have a little to do with Angel. She was happy that they had gotten to spend more time together earlier that night and talk about his passions and goals, he had really inspired her. "I am still going back to school on Monday, right?"

Joyce nodded. "Of course, Sweetie. I am curious how you are going to handle school and community service, though."

Buffy nodded, she was pretty sure Snyder knew it would be hard to juggle school and doing community service, which is why she had already talked to Jenny. "I already have it worked out with Jenny. I'm going to go to school during the day, then after school I will go to the church and I will take my homework with me so that any downtime I have, I can do homework or study and then on Saturday's I will be at the church all day and then Sunday afternoons will be all about school."

"Wow." Joyce was shocked. "It sounds like this Jenny woman is really helping you."

Buffy nodded. "Among other people at the church."

"That's great, Sweetie." Joyce smiled, walking further into her daughter's room, she sat on the bed facing Buffy. "About you going back to school on Monday…. I just found out that I am going to have to go to New York for a buying trip, all funded by the buyer, Mr. Nabbit, thank goodness! But, I won't be here for your first day back."

"That's fine, mom." Buffy smiled. "It's not that big of a deal and I promise not to get kicked out on my first day back."

"You better not!" Joyce gave her a warning look. "But, I don't feel right leaving you here alone."

"Mom…" Buffy laughed lightly. "I used to say home alone when I was like 14 and that was in LA. LA is way hairier than Sunnydale."

"Yes, I know." Joyce nodded, then paused. She and Buffy had been getting along better the past week and she didn't want to ruin that. "But, that was before you started getting into trouble."

"Mom, I promise that I won't get in trouble." Buffy reassured her mother. "I haven't even answered the phone when they called."

Joyce nodded, she knew exactly who Buffy meant when she said 'they', no names were needed. "I know, and I am SO proud of you for that! I just don't want you to be alone, that's all. You have been doing so great the past week, I want it to stay like that."

0o0o0

"Hey, Buffy!" Jenny smiled, as she watched Buffy hang the new teachers schedules in the classroom. She loved that she didn't even have to ask Buffy to do anything. If the blonde saw something that needed to be done, she did it. "Angel said the basement is coming along and that they might be doing a little extra on it."

Buffy nodded, setting down the pile of schedules onto the children's table. "Xander wants to change the basement into a game room or something, I'm not big on gaming but I could use an area to study. The extra room we have that was going to be used as my mom's office is still full of unbacked boxes. I really need to get on that."

"An area to study?" Jenny smiled. "That doesn't sound like what Snyder said about you. I believe his words were along the lines of you never cracked a book in your life and you might as well just give up now."

Buffy shook her head and giggled. Someone saying that might have bothered her at one point, but Snyder's opinion of her didn't really matter. "Snyder didn't know me before."

Jenny smiled even bigger, when she looked into Buffy's past, she had read how well Buffy did in school before her parents spilt. She knew that Buffy had it in her to do well in school. "That's my girl. And unpacking?" The dark-haired woman asked, leaning again the doorframe of the Third-Grade classroom. "Does that mean you plan on staying in Sunnydale?"

Buffy shrugged with a teasing smile. "It doesn't completely suck here."

Jenny laughed, when she was a teenager she didn't think this town was all that great either but then she met the man that she would married in the short future, and suddenly there was no other place she would rather be. "So, Monday is your first day back to school since you got suspended. Are you ready for that?"

"Yes." Buffy nodded. "and no."

"Explain?" Jenny asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Well, I'm excited to get back to school, especially since I got some tips from Angel, Xander and Oz about how to stay off Snyder's radar." She smiled. "But, I'm also not ready because my mom has to go out of town for work and she doesn't want me to be here alone. I mean, what's going to happen if I have to go with my mom on this buying trip? Am I going to get in even more trouble with Snyder?"

Jenny thought for a moment, she realized that Buffy didn't mention anything about how it would affect her community service at Awaken Church. "What is it that your mom is worried about?"

"She doesn't want me left alone." Buffy sighed, picking up a pen. "She think's I will get into trouble or reconnect with my friends that kind of… drag me into their trouble."

"How long would it be?" The older woman wondered.

"It depends on the buyer, some David Nabbit or something…" Buffy shrugged. "I think probably like a week…"

"What If you stayed with me and my family?" Jenny offered. "I would love to meet with your mom and let her know that you wouldn't be in any kind of trouble while she is gone."

Buffy smiled. "I would really like that."

"Great!" Jenny exclaimed. "I will be in contact with your mom then. So… anything new with this guy you like?"

Buffy laughed.

0o0o0

Buffy grabbed the stack of children's coloring sheets from the printer, she had witnessed on Sunday that the kids had wanted to color before their lesson began and sadly, they had run out of coloring sheets for them. She didn't want that to happen again, so she made extra sheets for each classroom. As she was walking out of the printer room near Pastor Giles' office she heard someone call her name. Turning around she smiled when she saw it was Angel.

"Hey, Buffy." Angel smiled, walking into the front door of the church, still dangling his keys in his left hand. "I heard you were here yesterday too, I'm starting to think you are here more than I am."

Buffy shrugged. "I like it here."

Angel smiled bigger, he liked the sound of that. "I just got back from meeting with your mother, she called me and asked me to meet her at her gallery, pretty cool place, by the way. She said you were going out of town and wanted to give me the keys to the house." He looked down at his keys in his hands.

"Oh." Buffy nodded. "My mom is just going, I'm not but I guess she really took it to heart when I told her that you wouldn't steal anything."

"So, I don't need this…" Angel offered the house key back.

"I'm not going to be there very much…" Buffy shrugged. "Or at all, so it's probably better that you have it."

Angel looked a little sad. "So, no more pizza nights?"

"Woah! Let's not go that far!" Buffy laughed. "Maybe I will come over and visit you… you guys. All of you. Not just you… because that would be weird…" Buffy's laugh turned nervous. "Would… would that be weird?"

"I don't think so." Angel laughed, he loved that she could make him laugh, and sometimes, like now, she wasn't even trying to.

"Angel!" A blonde called, walking out of the sanctuary, Buffy now knew him as Andrew Wells. Andrew was the IT guy at the church, he apparently had big plans to live broadcast the services online but Pastor Giles, being the anti-technology guy that he is didn't know if he was ready for that. Andrew was an odd one but he seemed harmless enough. Andrew nodded towards the sanctuary. "We are on the verge of running late, buddy."

Angel nodded to the blonde man then looked down at Buffy. "We are filming a new music video for the intro to the next sermon series, once we are done we are going to meet Xander at your house. Will you be there?"

"It depends what time." Buffy tucked her blonde hair behind her ear. "I'm meeting Willow at The Espresso Pump… have you been there before?"

"Of course." Angel laughed. "It's just about the only coffee place in Sunnydale."

Buffy gasped. "There's no Starbucks here?!"

Angel gave Buffy an odd look. "How long have you lived here?"

"A little over three months." Buffy shrugged. "But I don't go out much."

"Hmm." Angel nodded then smiled. "We will have to change that." Looking over her head, Angel saw Andrew coming back out. "I better get in there before Andrew starts to throw a fit." Then Angel whispered. "Which is actually pretty funny, if you ask me. Shhh."

Angel placed his hand gently on Buffy's arm as he walked past her, she smiled as she followed him with her eyes.

0o0o0

After finally finding The Espresso Pump, which was conveniently located on Main Street with pretty much everything else the town had to offer, Buffy looked around trying to locate Willow.

"Buffy!" The redhead called, waving her arm up in the air to get the blondes attention. "Over here!"

Buffy nodded in Willow's direction before walking over to the table. "Sorry I'm late, I had to get a few more things done so I was running kind of late in general."

"That's fine!" Willow smiled. "I'm happy that you made it." Willow looked up at the waitress then pointed down to her cup. "Amy!"

The waitress nodded before walking behind the counter.

"Yeah." Buffy nodded, sitting down across the table from Willow, looking around at the coffee shop. "This place is pretty cool. Angel said it was the only coffee place in town, does that mean everyone comes here?"

"Pretty much." Willow shrugged. "There are restaurants and other places that sell coffee but it's all just generic black coffee."

"And you like your latte's." Buffy smiled and got a nod from Willow. The waitress brought over a latte in a glass coffee cup.

"So." Willow smiled again. "What have you been up to the last couple of days?"

"Well…" Buffy took a deep breath. "I have been helping Jenny at the church, our pipe burst in our basement so Angel, Xander and Oz have been helping to fix it but Xander wants to do much more than just fix it so it's the way it was before, my mom is going out of town on a buying trip so Jenny talked my mom into letting me stay with her and her family while mom is away and I start school back up on Monday."

"Wow." Willow's green eyes were large. "That's a lot going on. All I had happen was a math test. Wait, aren't we the same age? How come you aren't in school with me?"

Buffy thought for a moment, if she really wanted a friendship with Willow then she would have to tell her the truth at some point. If Willow would want to continue to be her friend after she knew, that would be up to Willow. "Promise not to tell anyone?"

Willow was surprised but nodded.

"I got suspended." Buffy whispered.

"Really?" Willow looked around to make sure no one was listening then whispered. "Why?"

"I got in a fight." Buffy chewed her lip.

Willow sat up straight, looking confused. "The only fight I heard about at school was some beefy football player beat up Larry because Larry was getting all the plays on the field… whatever that means."

"Beefy football player?" Buffy asked. "They are calling me a beefy football player?"

"That was actually you?" Willow asked, leaning closer to the table. "What really happened?"

"He grabbed my…" Buffy paused, Willow didn't come off as the type of person that swore. "He got handsy with me and I'm a one warning kind of girl."

Willow nodded frantically. "I don't blame you! Larry has always been like that for as long as I can remember. I wish I had the guts to do something like you did."

"No, you don't." Buffy whispered. "It's not worth getting kicked out of school over. I'm lucky my mom got Snyder to reconsider expulsion and just suspend me with community service."

"You got community service?" Willow asked sipping her coffee. "I have never heard of that happening because of a fight at school."

Buffy nodded. "I got really, really lucky"

"What is your community service?" Willow asked, even more interested in Buffy now. Willow didn't know anyone who had gotten in any real trouble before.

"Snyder picked it for me." Buffy took a deep breath, picking up her coffee cup and sipping on it. "I'm doing Kid's Min at Awaken Church."

"Oh!" Willow exclaimed. "That's why I had never seen you before you walked into the classroom! Normally people go to the church for a while before they jump into serving. How long is your community service?"

"Jenny said if I go every day, which I have been, and once I go back to school, I will be going every day after school and on the weekends…" Buffy paused. "I should be done at the end of the month."

"Oh." Willow looked down at her latte. "So, after that you won't be going to church anymore?"

"I don't know…" Buffy shrugged. "I actually kind of like it. Okay, so, the Bible confuses the crap out of me about 90% of the time, but I love working with Jenny, Pastor Giles' sermon didn't suck and I really like the people I have met."

"Like me?" Willow asked hopefully.

"Yes." Buffy smiled. "And Angel, Xander, Oz, Angel, Andrew, Pastor Giles, Jenny, Angel…"

"Am I picking up that maybe you like Angel?" Willow giggled.

Buffy nodded. "Maybe a little." She paused. "Is there anything you can tell me about him?"

"Other than get to know him?" Willow laughed. "Well, he is really sweet, and he always puts people before himself. He is finishing up his Bachelor's Degree so that he can be a Youth Pastor, so it's a given that he likes kids, he's never really showed that much interest in dating though…"

Buffy bit her lip, that sucked. "Really?"

"He has talked about possibly dating." Willow said, giving her new friend a small amount of hope. "He just is pretty picky about who that person would be. Oh, he loves the movies! Like he is a HUGE movie buff, Buffy." Willow laughed at herself. "He also loves food, he's a HUGE foodie! Plus, isn't that the way to any man's heart? Can you cook?"

Buffy cringed and shrugged her shoulders. "I have never really tried."

"How much do you want to impress Angel?" Willow asked.

Buffy narrowed her eyes at the redhead. "Why?"

"Well, there is a cooking class that is starting up at the Rec Center…" Willow trailed off. "If you really want to impress him then maybe we could take the class and find a way for you to cook for him."

"How on earth would we do that?" Buffy exclaimed. "I mean, he's fixing my basement and we had pizza the other night, what am I supposed to do? Cook an actual meal for him one night with a romantic candle light dinner with all the trimmings, including Xander and Oz?"

Willow laughed. "Well, maybe one night I could come over and help you and I could somehow convince Xander to be sick that night."

Buffy smiled at the redhead. "What are you getting at?"

"Maybe I like Oz." Willow shrugged.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Buffy smiled.

Willow nodded, waiting expectantly.

"Well..." Buffy paused for a moment. "I might have maybe been listening to the guys while they were fixing the basement, and boy, do they talk a lot! But, anyway… I overheard that Oz likes you."

Willow screamed excitedly causing several people in the coffee shop to look at her. "Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! I… I … I'm getting light headed, I can't breath… I should… I should probably sit down."

"Willow…" Buffy whispered. "You are sitting down."

"Oh!" Willow nodded, calming down slightly. "Good for me!"

0o0o0

"Buffy, please remember." Jenny said walking in the front door of her house with Buffy behind her. "My home is your home. Don't be shy."

Today was the second day that Buffy was at the Giles' residents, her mother had ended up leaving a couple days early, in hopes of returning a couple of days early. Buffy nodded at the older woman, it was easier said than done, sometimes someone else's house, no matter how nice and inviting it is, is still someone else's house. "I promise, I will try to act like this is my home."

"Good." Jenny smiled. "Now, I need to go make something for dinner for everyone else but feel free to do whatever you want.

Buffy smiled at the older woman. She and Jenny had decided to grab something to eat while they were on their way back from the church. Buffy paused for a moment. "Everyone else?" The day before when Buffy had gotten to the Giles' home there was no one there but Jenny and Rupert. Buffy shrugged her shoulders before heading upstairs to put her bookbag in the room that she was staying in, she had a lot of homework to do and she wanted to get some Bible study time in. She figured, if she was struggling with whatever she was reading in the Bible tonight, she had a Pastor there that could explain it to her better.

Walking up the stairs she noticed a door at the end of the hall that was open, that door had been closed the whole time she was there. Going to the bedroom she was staying in, she started to open the door when she heard a noise coming from the room at the end of the hall. She quietly placed her bag on the bed and made her way out of the room again. Slowly, she walked down the hallway, about halfway down the hallway she heard some more noise coming from inside the room and then a guitar began to play what sounded like a rock band would play. Not exactly what she thought would come from a Pastors house.

Peaking inside the room, she saw an assortment of different musical instruments, there was a drum set against the far wall in the corner, an electronic keyboard against another wall, several black instrument cases, speakers and amps, and in the middle of it all was Angel, smiling at her while he played the guitar.

"Angel?" She whispered, his smile only got larger.

"Ah, Buffy." Pastor Giles walked up to the doorway of the room, standing behind Buffy. "I see you met my son, Angel."


	7. Bible Study with Angel

Allison117- Thank you for the review! It would appear that she is staying at Angel's house. lol

Guest- Haha! Yes! Anything could happen!

Sassy.B93- I certainly want to keep posting every day! My muse is working overtime on this one. I have until August 14th when my classes start back up so I hope to have this story done by then.

Vincatfan73- Thank you so much! And thank you for the review! I really appreciate it!

Jan- I am so happy to hear that!

Chapter 7: Bible Study with Angel

Buffy couldn't take her eyes off Angel, he was hot in general but put a guitar in the man's hand and she couldn't seem to look away. Wait, did Pastor Giles just say son? "Son?" Buffy whispered, ripping her eyes away from Angel to look at Pastor Giles. "Son? As in he is your son? Or like we are all related because we are all God's children type thing?"

Pastor Giles laughed, she certainly was a colorful girl but there was something about her that he likes. "He is my son, as in I am his father and Jenny is his mother."

Buffy looked back and forth between the two men again, there was no way Jenny was old enough to have a son in his twenty's. "Oh… well, I knew you had kids, I just didn't know… you know, that Angel was…"

Pastor Giles laughed again before turning to his son. "Angel, your mother is making dinner if you are hungry… you know what, you always eat your mothers cooking even if you aren't hungry. Just know that your mother is cooking."

Angel nodded and watched his father walk down the hallway to the stairs that lead to the living room.

"Son?" Buffy asked, raising her eyebrows at Angel, he just smiled wider and continued to play his guitar. "Are you going to say anything?" Buffy laughed.

Angel shrugged. "I thought you knew who my parents were. Everyone at church knows."

"I'm the new girl." Buffy reminded him. "Cut me some slack."

"You're right, I'm sorry, Buffy." Angel turned serious. "I'm the Pastors kid. I don't know how it happened, but it's been about twenty-one years."

"Stop it!" Buffy laughed, playfully slapping his arm. "It makes sense though, you wanting to be a Youth Pastor, your dad is a pastor and your mom is the director of the Kid's Ministry. You really are the perfect combination of both of them."

"Perfect, huh?" Angel smiled.

Buffy smiled back at him. "You know what I mean."

"Maybe." Angel smiled and nodded slowly.

"So." Buffy sighed looking around the room. "Do you play all of these instruments?"

Angel nodded. "Yeah, I have been playing since I was young. My dad started me out on the guitar because that's what he used to play. My mom used to play the Piano, we have one but it's…"

"Downstairs." Buffy finished for him as she admired the drum set. She looked up at Angel, who was watching her. "I saw it yesterday when I got here."

Angel nodded. "It's a little big to get it up the stairs, and my mom likes to play it too, so I settled for the keyboard up here. I started showing interest in the drums when I was about…" He paused and thought about it. "Nine years old. Being an only child, if I showed interest in something, my parents encouraged me to go for it."

"Only child?" Buffy asked. "I thought Pastor…. Your dad said that there were a couple…"

Realization hit Angel and he nodded. "My parents call Oz one of their kids, he doesn't have parents that live here so he is a big part of our family."

Buffy looked back at the drums. "Oh, okay."

Angel smiled at her interest in the drums. "Do you play?"

"Oh! No!" Buffy shook her head quickly. "I'm musically challenged to the max!"

"Would you like to try?" He wondered. Buffy paused, as if she wanted to say yes but the word just wouldn't come out. "Come on." Angel walked towards Buffy, taking her hand and leading her around the set to the stool. "It's not that hard, I promise." He smiled when she sat down. "When I first start on the drums it just sounded like horrible banging, even ask my mom."

"I'm sure you sounded a hundred times better than me." Buffy laughed taking the drum stick that he offered her. "You had already been playing the guitar and the piano, so you knew how to read music. This probably makes some kind of, I don't know, a sentence or something, I don't know what they call it in music world." Buffy said pointing at a sheet of music, Angel let out a small laugh. "You know what I see? Golf clubs. That…" She pointed at a particular note. "Looks like Mickey Mouse got murdered and they just left his shoes."

Angel laughed harder when she pointed to an adjustment that he had personally made to the sheet music with a yellow highlighter. "I did that, I just thought it would sound better. Here." He gently took her hands in his, guiding her to lightly tap the large drum.

"Is this the first part?" Buffy asked, wondering what exactly they were playing.

"No." Angel shook his head, releasing her hand and pointing to the first line on the music sheet. "This is a piano ballad. We are here." He said pointing to the third line. "This…" He pointed to the second line. "Is the piano and then a guitar gets added in. I personally love this song just on a piano but so many people want upbeat songs these days."

"I'm sure it sounds good either way."

Angel nodded. "It's a great song, so your right." He smiled then started to sing. "You call me out upon the waters, where my feet may fail and there I find You in the mystery, in oceans deep my faith will stand..."

Buffy gasped at the sound of his voice, turning to look at him she realized how close her was to her. She got butterflies from him being so close. "You can sing too? Is there anything you can't do?"

"Ice skating." Angel whispered. "and swimming… anything that involves water in some form."

Buffy smiled and whispered back. "I happen to be very good at those two things."

"Maybe you can teach me." He whispered again.

Buffy gasped when she thought she saw him move closer to her, she was sure he was going to kiss her.

"Angel!" Buffy and Angel both looked towards the doorway when they heard his mother call his name. Buffy shook her head, she often felt like she was in a trance when she looked into his eyes, she didn't know what it was about him. "Come eat, sweetie!"

Taking the drum sticks from Buffy, Angel set them down, he held his hand out to her, helping her up. "Coming?"

Buffy shook her head. "I already ate."

"So did I." Angel smiled.

Buffy laughed as Angel walked towards the door. "I thought Xander was the one that ate all the time."

"Oh, Xander is so much worse than I am!" Angel said seriously, before smiling again. "But I'm not going to turn down food."

"She was right." Buffy sighed and whispered to herself. "You are a foodie."

Angel turned around in the doorway to face Buffy, who hadn't moved very far from the drum set. "Who was right?"

Buffy's eyes got large, she didn't think he would hear her. "No one."

0o0o0

Buffy sat on the couch in the family room that was upstairs, she loved this house, it was so homey feeling and it had quiet places to sit and focus on work. She looked up from her Bible that she had been reading and looked around the room, it looked like Angel had been up there at some point doing homework because there were textbooks, notebooks and printed off study guides laying all over the coffee table. She leaned forward to look at one of the papers that was laying on top of an open textbook, she couldn't help but think how cute his handwriting was. She laughed lightly, Willow had told her that finding something cute about someone that you wouldn't normally pay attention to was a sure sign of a crush. She was sure that she was far beyond the crush stage at this point, actually, she knew she had skipped completely over the crush stage as soon as she locked eyes with him almost a week ago. Had it really only been a week? It felt like so much longer.

Shaking her thoughts away, she was trying to focus on her Bible. It was getting harder and harder as she got further into the book. She had so many questions to ask Pastor Giles at this point that by the time he was done eating there was no way she would remember them all.

Angel groaned, rubbing his stomach as he walked into the family room. "I'm so full."

"Maybe you shouldn't have had second dinner." Buffy teased, she moved to get up when Angel sat on the couch beside her. "Do you need me to go? You look like you were studying."

"Hmm?" Angel looked from Buffy to his books, before waving his hand at his books. "No, it's fine." He looked at the book in Buffy's hand. "What are you doing?"

Buffy closed her Bible but kept her finger in the page to hold her spot. "Trying to make heads and tails of this."

"What seems to be the problem?" Angel asked sitting up straighter.

Buffy laughed. "The part where it makes sense."

"It all makes sense, Buffy." He said gently.

"Okaaay…" Buffy turned to face Angel, curling her legs up on the couch. "But is there a kid's version? That would probably help me a lot."

"Can I give you some pointers?" Angel asked, earning a nod from Buffy. "Okay, don't be afraid to ask questions, to me, my dad, my mom… anyone you know, even God himself. So, hit me. What's a question that has just been eating away at you?"

"Well, for starters…" Buffy looked down at her Bible in her hand. "Why are there numbers everywhere? Because one thing I have learned from Sunnydale High, NEVER mix English and math because Ms. Miller can't teach both." Buffy giggled at the memory of her English teacher stepping in for the Math teacher, Mr. Davis.

Angel laughed, he remembered Willow mentioning Ms. Miller in the past, from what he could tell she was a great English teacher but Math just wasn't her thing. "The numbers are more as a reference to a particular place in the Bible. See, the word is the Book that you are in, the first number is the chapter and the last number is the verse."

"Oh. That actually kind of makes sense." Buffy laughed, she felt really stupid for not knowing that, but Angel didn't make her feel stupid for asking. "Okay, so how come they talk all funny?"

"That is a very good question, and I say that because I also asked my dad the same thing once." He smiled. "The Bible was written a long time ago, so there is not only a time difference but a culture difference and so many different translations. The best thing to do is break it down. If you don't understand a verse, break it down into sections. If you still don't understand it, pray about it."

"I…" Buffy shook her head. "I don't know how to pray."

Angel leaned in closely to Buffy and whispered. "You don't have to know how to pray, Buffy. You just have to talk to your best friend. There is nothing formal about it, just talk. Talk about your fears, anxieties, hopes, dreams… God already knows everything about you but he wants to hear it from you."

Buffy's eyes got large, she never thought about it that way. God knew about all those bad thoughts she had been having about Angel since meeting him, yup, hell was her next stop.

Angel took the Bible from Buffy's hands, opening it to a random page. "What does this verse mean to you?"

Buffy shrugged. "It's a seriously long run on sentence."

Angel looked down at the page and nodded with a laugh. "Okay, you aren't wrong." Turning the page, he tried again. "What about this?"

Buffy looked down at the random verse that Angel put his finger on. "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." Buffy raised her eyebrows and skimmed a little further. "Therefore, the virgins love you…Is there sex in this book?"

Angel laughed nervously. He had taught Song of Solomon to several others but for some reason, Buffy was making him nervous. "It touches base on it. It's not porn though."

"Sounds like it gets pretty juicy to me." Buffy smirked.

"Okay, how about we pass on Song of Solomon for right now." He chuckled. "Here… Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. What do you think that means?"

"I don't know." Buffy shrugged. "Why is us and our capitalized in the middle of a sentence?"

"Are you sure you wanted to be a lawyer?" Angel joked. "You seem like you would make a pretty good English teacher."

Buffy rolled her eyes playfully. "Ha ha!"

"It's capitalized…" Angel laughed. "Because it's referring to God."

"Then who is us and our?" Buffy wondered. "Does God have multiple personalities?"

"That is referring to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit." Angel explained.

"Our God is three in one." Buffy sang. "Right?"

Angel smiled brightly at Buffy. "Yeah, exactly."

"Learned that in Kids Min." Buffy laughed.

"The Kid's Ministry is a great place to serve." Angel smiled, looking down at Buffy's Bible before grabbing a pen from the coffee table and underlining the words in the Bible.

"Angel! What are you doing?" Buffy exclaimed. "That's like a Holy book!"

Angel laughed. "Doesn't mean you can't write in it." He then continued to write a note beside the verse they had been discussing. Buffy leaned in to see what he was writing. He had written the lyrics that Buffy had sang from Kids Min with a small musical note. "God's Word is holy but the Bible is a tool. Not everyone believes this but… we believe that if a person has had a Bible for a year, two years… and it looks like this…" Angel held up Buffy's Bible. "Then something isn't right. It should look like you read and live your Bible, if you don't understand something or you have a question about something, mark it in your Bible, if you want to be able to come back to it- dog ear it. You don't even want to know what my Bible looks like."

"I saw it, at church." She whispered, hopefully he wouldn't think she was some weirdo that was watching him all service. Oh, wait, she was!

"That's my church Bible, I have a Bible that I take everywhere with me, it's pretty beat up now. I have hed it for years." He told her.

"My grandma had a Bible that was in perfect condition all my life." Buffy noted. "Come to think of it, I never even saw her open it."

"It's important to read your Bible, Buffy. It brings you closer to God." Angel smiled, then whispered. "Following Christ isn't here…" He pointed to his head. "It's here." He pointed to his heart. "The only way you are going to allow God into your heart is through His Word."

"You're going to be a great Youth Pastor." She whispered.

Angel smiled. "You think so?"

Buffy nodded. "I know so."

0o0o0

Angel rolled out of bed, scratching his head. He and Buffy had stayed up far too late talking and he had to get up early for band practice at the church. It wasn't his best decision that he had ever made but he stood by his thoughts last night, when he realized it was 3am, Buffy was worth it. Letting out a yawn, Angel walked towards the bathroom, he was the only one that ever used that bathroom so he didn't think twice when he opened the door.

Buffy turned around quickly at the sound of the door opening, she clutched her bath towel tightly around her body and quietly screamed.

Angel's eyes were round with shock and he quickly shut the bathroom door. "Oh man!"

"Shit!" Buffy exclaimed.

Suddenly the bathroom door swung back open but this time Angel was covering his eyes. He blindly pointed. "Colossians 3:8- But also put all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth."

"Are you really quoting scripture to me right now?" Buffy shouted.

Angel closed the bathroom door again. "Sorry, reflex."

0o0o0

Angel made his way down to the kitchen where his mother was making her Saturday morning pancakes, he was still wearing his black sweatpants and his white tank top that he had slept in. "Good morning, Angel."

"Mom." Angel said, standing beside her as she flipped a pancake. "I think I'm going to go back to the dorm tonight."

"Why is that?" Jenny asked her son.

"Well… Buffy is here." Angel shrugged.

Jenny turned to look at her son. "Yes, I know. I invited her to stay here while her mom is out of town. Your father was supposed to tell you, but apparently he forgot."

"Mom…" Angel trailed off. "Buffy is a girl."

Jenny laughed. "Yes, I know."

"She is a… pretty… girl." Angel struggled to get out.

"Oh." Jenny nodded, understanding what her son was saying. "You like her…"

After looking at his mother for a moment, Angel nodded.

"You have never liked a girl before, as far as I know." Jenny said removing the pancake for the griddle and setting it on a plate.

Angel shook his head. "I haven't… not like this."

"Sweetie…" Jenny started. "You know, she likes someone, right?"

Angel frowned. "She does?"

Jenny nodded. "She told me sh… wait, now that I think about it… it might be you."

"What?" Angel asked, hopeful.

"Well, from the way she has described this guy, it might very well be you." Jenny smiled.

Angel paused for a moment. "Do you really think she might like me?"

Jenny nodded. "But Angel, she is only seventeen and you are twenty-one. If there is anything there, if she does like you, you would have to wait until her birthday."

Angel smiled and turned to leave.

"Where are you going, Angel?"

Angel turned around, smiling at his mom. "To ask her when her birthday is."


	8. Awkward Angel

Jubi2- Aww, thank you! The first kiss is always the best!

Sassy.B93- I still have a couple of weeks left before classes start back up, so I should be able to pull it off as long as I keep writing every day.

Allison117- Thank you! You are so sweet!

Guest- I'm happy you enjoyed it!

A/N: I know that in the show Buffy's birthday was said to be October 24th in the school registry and Joss had officially said that January 19th is her birthday, but for this story, it's going to be different. Also, sorry for the delay in the update, I was having issues with uploading the chapters of both of my stories.

Chapter 8: Awkward Angel

Buffy took a deep breath as she straightened her shirt then picked up the towel to finish drying her hair. She felt bad that Angel had walked in on her in the bathroom, judging by his reaction, he wasn't okay with it. Didn't most guys want to see a naked girl? Okay, so she wasn't completely naked, all the important parts were covered up with a towel. Buffy turned to look at the door when she heard a light knock and told them to come in.

"Are you… "Angel trailed off.

Buffy laughed. "Fully clothed? Yes."

Angel opened the door slowly, still unsure of what he would find on the other side of the door. Once he opened the door completely, he relaxed slightly, but when he looked at her, all he could see was Buffy still wrapped in the white towel. "He… are… um…" Angel struggled to get any words out, which wasn't normally like him. Taking a deep breath, Angel paused to gather himself. "When is your birthday?"

"Why?" Buffy laughed, setting the towel down on the bed in the guest room and picking up her hair brush. "Are you going to buy me a bigger towel for my birthday?"

"If… if that's what you want." Angel nodded awkwardly, he was trying to keep his eyes on her face but it was hard to do considering he now knew what she looked like in just a towel. So, he tried to focus on the floor. Oz was right, he had it bad.

"It's not." Buffy said teasingly, brushing her hair out. "May 22nd."

He quickly looked up from the floor, meeting her gaze. That was next month. "Okay."

Buffy looked confused as Angel turned to walk away. "That was a new level of weird."

0o0o0

"So?" Jenny asked her son as he came back down to the kitchen, she placed a plate of pancakes on the table and pointed to them. "How did it go?"

"Well…" Angel sighed before sitting down where his mother had pointed. "I managed to ask her when her birthday was but I'm pretty sure I looked like a complete weirdo."

Jenny laughed. It was pretty amusing to see her level-headed son so flustered over a girl. "Why is that?"

"I tried to make something else come out…" Angel told her, cutting his stack of pancakes. "Anything at all, but nothing would come out. I couldn't stop thinking about…"

His mother raised her eyebrow at him when he trailed off. "Thinking about what?"

"I walked in on her, mom!" He exclaimed in a hushed whisper. "I walked in on her in the bathroom."

Jenny scratched her forehead in confusion. "Was she… naked?"

Angel whipped his head around to look at his mom with panicked eyes. "She was wearing a towel! But when I just saw her, all I could see was her in that towel!"

"You are just like your father." Jenny laughed.

Angel shook his head as he ate. "I'm sure dad didn't see you practically naked before you were married!" He paused. "I don't want to know, don't tell me anything that happened between you and dad. My mental state can't handle it right now."

Jenny laughed even harder, he was being so dramatic. "Did she seem upset about it?"

"I think she was when it happened, she swore. But, when I went up to her room to talk to her, she seemed fine. Teasing, almost." Angel told his mother.

Jenny shook her head. "She was probably just surprised when it happened, it doesn't sound like she's upset about it."

"Good morning." Buffy smiled at Jenny and Angel, then began to quietly sing the song that Angel had been trying to teach her how to play the night before. "My soul will rest in Your embrace, for I am Yours and You are mine."

"You seem like you are in a good mood this morning, Buffy." The older dark-haired woman smiled.

"Sure." Buffy smiled, pouring some orange juice. "I'm here, it's Saturday and I get to spend the day at the church. It's a good day."

Jenny loved to see Buffy in such a good mood. "Speaking of, I have to stop to pick some stuff up this morning that we need for tomorrow. Angel." Jenny got her son's attention. "Could you drive Buffy to the church? You have to go for band practice anyway."

Angel's mouth fell open. He would have to be in a car alone with Buffy, thinking about her with not so many clothes on. This is horrible! One look at a girl in a towel and he couldn't stop having these thoughts. But it wasn't just any girl, it was Buffy. "What…um, what about accountability?" Angel asked, the church was always so big on making sure there were more than two people together at a time because they were aware of incidents that could possibly occur.

"I trust you." Jenny smiled, biting into her toast. "Both of you. If I didn't then I wouldn't have allowed you two to stay up so late alone in the family room." If she didn't know before, then she was positive by the way her son was acting that nothing inappropriate would happen. "Is that alright with you, Buffy?"

"Of course." Buffy said, taking a sip of her orange juice. "If it's okay with Angel."

"Um…" With large eyes, Angel stuffed more pancake into his mouth. "I… um…" Looking over at his mother, he sighed. "Okay."

"Great!" Buffy smiled. "I will go grab my stuff."

Angel watched Buffy leave the kitchen to gather the items she would need for the day, most likely just her purse. "Mom, do you know how long that ride is?"

"It's a fifteen-minute drive, Angel." She smiled teasingly.

Angel nodded. "Fifteen minutes of me thinking about her in a towel!"

Jenny laughed at her son.

"In a car, mom!" Angel exclaimed. "That's a small space!"

"So, drive with the top down." Jenny teased, grabbing her cup of coffee and leaving the kitchen.

0o0o0

Buffy walked outside the house with her arms full of papers and supplies, seeing that Angel was already outside waiting for her, she looked down to make sure she didn't trip and make a complete fool out of herself. "Angel, could you do me a favor?"

"Hmmm?" Angel asked not looking up at her, he knew if he did, he would just envision her in a towel again.

"There are a couple of easels that I need to bring for the Kindergarten class. They are right inside the front door." Walking closer to the black convertible with the top down, she noticed that Angel's guitar was laying across the backseat. "Is there room in the trunk?"

Angel finally looked up. "Yeah, the trunk is empty. I didn't know that you would have so much stuff."

"Yeah, sorry." Buffy bit her bottom lip. "Your mom's car is going to be packed and because I don't have my own car, I don't really have a way to get it all to the church. Are you sure it isn't a problem?"

"No, not at all." Angel said making his way back towards the house. "They should fit fine in the trunk."

Buffy walked Angel grab the two easels and carry them back to his car, pushing a button on his set of keys, the trunk popped open. "Thanks, you just... you know, have big muscles and all. Very handy to have."

"They aren't that big, Buffy." Angel couldn't help but smile a little.

Buffy pursed her lips. "But they are nice to look at."

Angel raised his eyebrows at Buffy, surprised that she would say that, as she climbed into his car.

0o0o0

Buffy looked down at the hand-written list she had made of things that needed to be done before the kids came in for class the next morning. So far, she was feeling accomplished, she had gotten half of the list done before lunch time.

Buffy looked up when she saw someone out of the corner of her eye walk past the door, she smiled when she was that it was Pastor Giles.

Pastor Giles turned around in the hallway and made his way back to Jenny's office where Buffy was. "Oh, there you are Buffy!"

Buffy laughed. "Aren't I always here?"

"Well, no." Pastor Giles laughed. "You and that wife of mine seem to run around like chickens with your heads cut, at times."

Buffy laughed harder, she really loved that Giles family, they always made her laugh. "There is a lot to be done every day, honestly, I don't know how Jenny did it alone for so long."

"She's an extraordinary woman, that wife of mine." The Pastor smiled at the thought of his wife, then brought his attention back to the blonde in the office. "As are you, Buffy."

"Me?" Buffy asked, shocked. "No, there is nothing special about me."

"No, there is." Rupert Giles disagreed. "You have far exceeded the expectations of an individual that is merely doing community service here. All your job called for was to set up the classrooms and show up on Sundays, now look at you. You are scheduling the volunteers that teach each Sunday and from what Jenny has said you have gotten those volunteers to commit to a month-long schedule instead of going week to week, you are sending out daily emails to keep the other teachers informed with what is going on with each classroom as it happens. I have gotten several compliments from the volunteers about our new Directors Assistant in Kids Ministry."

"But I'm not…" Buffy shook her head. "There is no assistant."

"But you are acting like one, Buffy." Pastor Giles smiled. "You have great potential, Buffy. I don't think it's a coincidence that you came here."

Buffy shook her head again. "I don't think so either."

Pastor Giles nodded back. "Now, come on. We are all going to lunch."

"Who is all?" Buffy asked, placing her list on Jenny's desk.

"Jenny, Angel and myself." He replied.

"Oh." Buffy nodded. Things were pretty awkward with Angel since he walked in on her in the bathroom, he hardly said a word to her the whole ride to the church that morning. That wasn't like him at all. "You know, I should stay here and get more work done."

"You and my wife must have been separated at birth." Pastor Giles laughed. "She says the same thing, all the time, but there is one thing she will never turn down and that is food."

Buffy laughed. "Now I see where Angel gets it from."

"Yes, indeed!" He laughed. "Come on, Buffy, you need to eat."

0o0o0

Buffy looked in the mirror of the restaurant bathroom, Jenny was beside her at the sink washing her hands. "Is it just me or is Angel acting weird?"

Jenny rinsed her hands and let out a knowing laugh. "It's not just you."

"What's up?" Buffy asked, running her hands through her blonde hair, checking it in the mirror. "I mean, I think I know but I don't like it."

Jenny grabbed a few paper towels to dry her hands. "What do you think it is?"

Turning to look at her mentor, Buffy sighed. "Did he tell you what happened this morning?"

Jenny nodded, still trying her hands. "He's afraid that he upset you."

"What?" Buffy laughed. "I'm not upset, it's not like I was naked."

"I told him that you seemed fine so, you probably weren't upset." Jenny told her, throwing away the paper towels. "But this is Angel, he doesn't want to make anyone uncomfortable, let alone a woman." Jenny paused for a second. "But he is pretty uncomfortable with the situation, himself."

"Should I leave?" Buffy asked. "I don't want to make him uncomfortable in his own house."

Jenny shook her head. "Of course not! Besides, he actually lives in the dorms. He only comes home when he needs quiet time to study or he wants his laundry done with what he calls the good stuff. Apparently, the detergent they sell at the Laundry Mat on campus makes his clothes itchy."

"Awww." Buffy laughed. "Poor baby."

Jenny laughed. "He will get over the whole uncomfortable thing, you just have to give him time."

"So, no popping in unexpectedly?" Buffy asked.

Jenny smiled. "Actually, I would pop in more, be all in his face… not inappropriately, obviously but make it known that you are there. That's how I got his father, at least." Jenny laughed. "You like Angel, right? He is the one that you were talking about?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, I do… like him." It was slightly more than like, but she didn't think it would be appropriate to tell his mother that she was almost certain she was in love with her son after such a short amount of time.

"Then don't give up." Jenny smiled encouragingly. "I'm sure I can come up with a reason for him to drive you home today too."

Buffy laughed as they walked out of the women's restroom.

"It's about time." Pastor Giles laughed as his wife and Buffy made it make to their lunch table. "Any longer and we would have to send a search party."

"You know what it's like, Rupert." Jenny smiled at Buffy. "Us girls always take a long time in the bathroom."

"Gossiping." Angel whispered, then looked up at everyone else at the table, everyone was looking at him, including Buffy. He started to get nervous, which was ridiculous. Buffy didn't make him nervous, he had felt completely comfortable around her the second he met her. "That's what Willow said… she, she told me that's why girls take so long…"

Buffy smiled at Angel, he was cute when he was being awkward. She was starting to realize that he was attractive no matter what. "It's true, I mean the majority of the time we don't even have to go to the bathroom."

Jenny laughed. "It's about time you know the truth, son. I told your father a long time ago…"

"We talk about boys." Buffy laughed.

"So, Buffy." Pastor Giles smiled as the waitress brought them their food. "Is there a boy that you are interested in?"

Buffy looked at Angel and smiled. "You could say that."

"Well…" Pastor Giles nodded and took off his glasses to clean them. "I would hope that you would approach this young man in a biblical manner."

"Meaning…" Buffy trailed off, hoping he would explain what exactly it meant to approach a guy in a biblical manner.

"It is important to always put God first." Pastor Giles said.

Buffy nodded. "Angel covered that."

"You discussed this with Angel?" Pastor Giles asked, looking to his son.

Buffy shook her head. "I meant in general. He said to always put God first, spend time reading the Bible first thing in the morning… stuff like that."

"Yes." Pastor Giles agreed. "Yes, that is correct. As well as putting obedience before passion. Just because you are feeling…" He cleaned his glasses once again. "…lustful, doesn't mean that you should act on it. Your obedience to God is more important. Which also goes hand in hand with all physical contact being appropriate and having set mutual limits."

"Rupert and I didn't even kiss while we were dating." Jenny told the blonde. "Our first kiss was on our wedding day. Granted, we didn't date very long before we got married."

"You didn't even kiss?" The blonde looked from the Pastor to his wife.

Jenny shook her head. "We knew it would be too much of a temptation to go further, it was our choice."

"So, Christians can kiss though…" Buffy asked with a small nervous laugh. "Right?"

"Of course, they can." Jenny laughed. "It depends on the couple."

"It is also extremely important to take 2 Corinthians 6:14 very seriously." Pastor Giles told her.

Buffy looked around the table at Pastor Giles, Jenny and Angel. "What's that? I don't think Angel and I have covered that one yet."

"Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?" Angel quoted. "It means you shouldn't date someone that doesn't have a personal relationship with Christ."

"They could lead you away from Christ." Pastor Giles added. "That is why it is so important for Angel to date someone who has been saved."

"Oh." Buffy nodded slowly, Jenny had mentioned something about that. "How do I know when I am saved?"

"You will know." Angel told her. "It's different for everyone."

Jenny nodded. "You will feel it when it's time and it will be well with your soul."

0o0o0

Just as Jenny had said in the restaurant restroom, she had found a reason not to be able to take Buffy back to the Giles' house and had asked Angel to drive Buffy instead. Buffy didn't think it would be complete awkward silence after he had acted semi normal at lunch earlier, but here they were sitting in the car for the past five minutes in silence. Buffy glanced over at Angel. "Are things going to be weird between us now?"

"What?" Angel asked, glancing at her then back to the road. "Is it weird?"

"Little bit." Buffy nodded. "I don't get what the big deal is, Angel, you walked in on me… it was an accident. Right?"

"Of course!" He exclaimed. "Of course, it was an accident. I wouldn't have done it if I had known you were in there. I just have to get the image out of my head."

"Was it like, gross?" Buffy asked, almost offended.

Angel's eyes widened in shock. "I just… I just never have… seen…"

"Oh!" Buffy realized what he was trying to tell her. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Angel took a deep breath. "I'm the one that did it."

"I just…" Buffy paused. "Just know that I'm not upset about it. It was an accident, they happen and I just want you… I want us to be back to normal."

Angel looked over at Buffy again. "Me too."


	9. First Day of School Redo

Allison117- Jenny is definitely Team Bangel! Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter!

Chapter 9: First Day of School Redo

Willow waved at Buffy excitedly as the blonde climbed out of the passenger side of Jenny's small yellow car. Buffy smiled at the redhead before turned to look into the window at Jenny. "This is where I have to promise my mom not to get kicked out."

Jenny gave the blonde a pointed look. "Please don't get kicked out, Buffy."

Buffy smiled at the older woman. "I promise."

"Have a good day!" Jenny called to the blonde before she made her way over to Willow, who was waiting for her on the stone bench.

"Hey, Buffy!" Willow smiled excitedly. "Are you excited for your first day back?"

Buffy smiled at the red-heads excitement, sitting down beside her. "I'm happy that I get a second chance, I plan to make it work. So, when do classes start?"

"You really didn't go to class before, did you?" Willow asked with wide eyes.

Buffy shrugged. "Not the morning ones, at least."

"We have a few minutes." Willow told her. "So, have you heard from Angel?"

Buffy took a deep breath, she had told Willow about what happened with Angel the day before at church. Buffy shook her head. "I didn't really get to talk to him, apparently a couple people that were supposed to serve at the VIP tent didn't show up so he was filling in with them and I was busy with Kids Min."

"Your telling me!" Willow smiled. "I'm proud of you for teaching the kiddos yesterday, you did awesome!"

"Please, I screwed up so many times." Buffy rolled her eyes. She had been a hot mess, she screwed up some of the names in the lesson and she found it hard to keep the kids attention.

Willow shrugged. "Luckily, the kids don't care. I screwed up when I first started teaching too."

"That makes me feel slightly better." Buffy joked with a smile.

"I really wish that you and Angel could have talked yesterday." Willow pursed her lips. "I think you two would be so cute together."

"I'm hoping the fact that we were both busy yesterday is the only reason that we didn't get to talk." Buffy said watching other students walk by.

"Me too. I mean, I get that it kind of wigged him out to walk in on you but come on!" Willow nodded. "We should get going to class."

"Yeah." Buffy agreed. "I still have to find my locker."

Willow widened her eyes at her new blonde friend. School was going to be over in a little over a month and she still didn't know where her locker was!

0o0o0

Buffy sighed as she walked down the hallway to her locker, Principal Snyder had been watching her like a hawk the whole day. She even saw him looking in the window of her science class. All day she had done exactly what Angel, Xander and Oz had told her to do. She was being the picture-perfect student, which seemed to be making Snyder even more suspicious of her. Buffy paused when she got to her locker, she still didn't have her locker combination memorized, so she reached into her pocket to pull out the small piece of paper with the three numbers written on it. Opening her locker, she looked at her textbooks, she had a lot of homework for the night but she was okay with that. She grabbed her science book out of her locker, her teacher Dr. Gregory seemed kind of cool, she had enjoyed the class and looked forward to going back.

"Hey Buffy!" Willow ran up to the blonde, smiling. "How was your first day."

Buffy shrugged with a smirk. "It didn't suck." She had survived her first day back to school and didn't get in trouble at all, she called it a major win!

"Well, that's a plus!" Willow laughed, as they walked towards the exit of the school. "Do you want me to give you a ride to the church?"

"If you don't mind." Buffy nodded.

"How much longer until you get your license back?" Willow wondered.

"A little over three months." The blonde told her, walking through the parking lot to Willow's car. "But even once I get my license back, I don't have my own car anymore. My dad didn't let me or my mom take our cars after the divorce."

Willow made a face. "That sucks, maybe you could get another car though."

Buffy nodded. "Maybe, but it definitely wouldn't be as shiny."

0o0o0

Buffy set her school bag down in the chair in Jenny's office, her bag was heavy but she welcomed the weight, she knew she would feel accomplished when she got all her homework done. She would get some work done at the church before going back to the Giles' house to do some homework and pass out from exhaustion just to wake up and do it all again. Life of a good girl was so much more work than being a troubled teen, as her mother called her.

Suddenly, Jenny came running into her office, stopping quickly. "Oh! Buffy!" Jenny placed her hand over her heart. "You scared me, I wasn't expecting you to be here yet!"

"I came right after school." Buffy told her. "I have a lot of homework tonight though, hopefully I get everything done here quickly."

"Why don't you just head to the house and get started on your homework?" Jenny asked.

Buffy shook her head. "I have so much to do here and I don't want to leave you hanging."

"Buffy, you won't leave me hanging." Jenny assured her, rubbing her arm. "I'm sure you can get it done on another night when you don't have as much homework or even on Saturday."

"Are you sure?" Buffy asked.

"Yes!" Jenny exclaimed. "Do you want me to see if Angel can take you home?"

Buffy perked up at Angel's name. "Is he here?"

"I talked to him about 5 minutes ago in the sanctuary." Jenny nodded. "He has class in a little while so if you want a ride, you better go now to catch him."

"Okay!" Buffy smiled, grabbing her back. "I will go ask him, you go back to doing what you were doing."

Buffy peaked into the Sanctuary to see if Angel was in there, she saw Oz and waved.

Oz walked over to Buffy. "Hey, Buff. What's up?"

"I was looking for Angel to ask for a ride back to his house." Buffy told him. "I have a lot of homework that I want to get a jump start on."

"He actually just left a couple minutes ago." Oz said, pointing towards the door. "He had to get to class and then he is going to meet us at your place to work on the basement. You want a ride?"

Buffy sighed, she had really hoped to be able to spend some time with Angel. "Yeah, that would be great."

0o0o0

Buffy was sitting in the family room upstairs when she heard Pastor Giles and Jenny get home for the night. Jenny walked up the stairs and stuck her head into the family room where she was sure Buffy would be doing her homework, that was always Angel's favorite place to study too. He said there was enough space on the coffee table up there to spread out all his books that he needed to have ready. "Hey, Buffy!" Jenny smiled. "How's it going?"

Buffy sighed looking up from her homework, she probably shouldn't have started with math because now she was feeling really discouraged with the rest of her homework. She was still feeling frustrated from the math homework that she didn't fully understand. "It's coming."

"Good." Jenny nodded. "If you need any help just ask. I'm great with science and computers and Rupert is great with… well, pretty much everything else."

"Thanks." Buffy smiled. "I will."

"I'm going to start dinner in a few minutes, I hope you are hungry." Jenny laughed. "It's been a while since Angel and his friends used to take over the house but I still cook enough to feed an army."

Buffy laughed. "I have noticed."

"Speaking of…" Jenny walked further into the family room, she picked up a book off the couch next to Buffy and set it on the coffee table before sitting down. "How did the ride with Angel go?"

Buffy shook her head. "It didn't. He was already gone by the time I got to the Sanctuary. Oz gave me a ride on his way to my house."

"Oh, that sucks." Jenny pouted.

Buffy nodded agreeing with her. It was definitely an experiencing riding in Oz's van though, it was really easy to tell that Oz was a musician just from looking in the back of his fan. All of his seats were gone, which he insured Buffy that he could put back in at any time and that the seats were currently in the Giles' storage at their house. Instead of seats, he had musical instruments, a bunch of cords and amps. Buffy pursed her lips, there had been something that was bothering her and she wanted to ask Jenny's opinion on it. "Jenny, can I ask you something?"

"Of course, Sweetie." Jenny smiled getting more comfortable on the house beside Buffy. "What is it?"

"Do you…" Buffy paused. "I was just thinking, I should really tell Angel about the community service and my past… Do you think I should?"

"He doesn't already know?" Jenny asked seriously.

Buffy shook her head. "At least, I didn't tell him. I feel like I'm being dishonest with him because he doesn't know and I don't want to be like that with Angel. I really care about him, like really, really. I don't want to ruin any chance I might have with him because I wasn't completely forthcoming. Do you think he will be upset?"

Jenny shook her head. "Angel understands that nobody is perfect. I do think you should tell him soon though, you don't want to much time to pass or for him to find out from someone else. I think, that is what will hurt him."

"That's the last thing I want to do." Buffy whispered.

"I know, sweetie." Jenny smiled. "I know he wouldn't want to hurt you either, he feels the same way about you, you know."

Buffy gasped and turned her head quickly towards the dark-haired woman. "Seriously?"

Jenny nodded with a small smile. "He told me that he cares about you."

"Cares about me or cares about me?" Buffy asked, she really didn't want to get her hopes up unless she was sure.

Jenny made a confused face. "Which ever one means he likes you more than a friend."

Buffy's eyes got large with excitement and her heart started to race.

"But…" Jenny jumped in before Buffy could start hyperventilating or screaming, which ever one came first. "I told him because you are seventeen and he is twenty-one that you would have to wait until you are legal. Even though I know that you and Angel wouldn't do anything inappropriate it is still the law."

"So…" Buffy trailed off. "What are the chances of Angel asking me out after my birthday?"

"I would say they are pretty high." Jenny smiled. "Okay, just do it. I know you want to."

Buffy smiled before letting out a high-pitched scream and throwing herself at the dark-haired woman.

Pastor Giles rushed up the stairs, stopping with a jerk in the family room doorway, expecting the worst. When he saw that nothing was wrong, he signed. "Oh, good Lord!"

"Sorry Rupert." Jenny laughed. "You know how it is when a girl finds out her crush likes her too."

"Oh, yes, of course." Pastor Giles nodded. "Because I have experience that so many time."

Buffy and Jenny laughed at the older man.

0o0o0

Buffy smiled when she saw Angel in the Sanctuary, tuning his guitar. It seemed like the last couple of days it was hard for her to track him down. It felt weird not seeing him every day. She got lost in him for a moment, like she always did, but shaking her head, she pulled herself out of her daze and walked towards him. "Hey Angel."

Looking up from his guitar, Angel gave her a small smile. "Oh, hey Buffy."

"Hey." She repeated. She had fully intended on telling him about her community service when she saw him again but now that he was right in front of her, she was suddenly nervous. Taking a deep breath, she asked. "How are you?"

"Good. A little tired but good." Angel nodded, looking down at his guitar and then back to Buffy. "How about you?"

"I'm okay." She said quietly with a nod. "And… how are we?"

Angel looked at Buffy, slightly confused. "What?"

"You know…" Buffy bit her lip. "Are we… back to normal now?"

Angel gave her a small smile. "We are fine, Buffy."

"Good!" Buffy smiled, she was relieved to hear him say that. She just hoped telling him about her community service didn't ruin things again. "Can… Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Um, yeah." He nodded, taking his guitar off before setting it behind him on the stand. He got the feeling she meant a more serious talk than what they were having.

Buffy glanced around at all of the other members of the Worship and sound team. "Can we maybe go in your mom's office?"

"My mom has a meeting today." Angel told her, nodding towards his mother's office. "We can go in my office."

Buffy nodded, she had completely forgot about Jenny's budget meeting. She followed Angel down another hall. "I didn't even know that you had an office."

Angel nodded before he stopped in front of a door, holding it open for her. "As Worship co-leader, I share an office with Oz."

Buffy smiled with a nod, as she walked past him and into his office. "They couldn't pick which one to make the leader, huh?"

"Oz went to dad about wanting the position first." Angel shrugged, walking into his office after her and propping the door open. "I was just so involved and it was a heavy work load on Oz with college too, dad came to me about helping."

Buffy nodded as she looked around the office. There were two desks facing each other in the center of the room, each having a black chair on wheels. Music sheets were spread out on both desks as if they had been going over them together, Buffy smiled when she saw an old looking Bible on one of the desks. There were pictures of Angel and Oz together on the walls, as well as the two men with their friends. On both desks, there were pictures of the men with the Giles' family. Angel sat down at the desk with the old Bible on it and motioned for Buffy to sit down on the red couch against the wall. "What was it that you wanted to talk about?"

"Well." Buffy took a deep breath. "I just, I wanted to tell you something… about me."

Angel narrowed his eyes at the blonde, confused. "Okay…"

"I don't really know how to say it." Buffy said quietly, she looked behind her when she heard a few people talking as they walked down the hallway. "I wanted you to know about me… about my past. I really didn't want you to find out from someone else. "Angel nodded, waiting for her to continue. "I didn't come to church in the most conventional way. I… I actually, didn't want to come here. I didn't even want to come to Sunnydale. I was forced to." Buffy paused and looked up at Angel, he was just watching her. "I got in trouble, not alo… okay, yes, a lot. I was kicked out of three school in two years and I was on the verge of being kicked out of Sunnydale high too but my mom talked Snyder into another form of punishment. Apparently, he thought making me do community service at a church was the worst thing. I was also suspended, but I'm back at school now…"

"That's why you were at the church so much during the day." Angel nodded.

Buffy nodded back. "Yeah, I was suspended for a week."

Angel leaned forward in his chair, leaning his elbows on his thighs. "When is your community service over?"

"At the rate that I have been going so far…" Buffy shrugged. "Your mom thinks I should be done in a couple weeks."

"And then you are gone." He assumed. "Does you getting in trouble have anything to do with not having a car?" Angel asked her, Buffy gave him a questioning look. "Yesterday, Willow might have mentioned to Xander that you were thinking about buying a new car. His uncle sells used cars."

"Oh." Buffy pursed her lips. "Yes and no. I… my parents got a divorce, my dad had used all his fancy lawyer money to buy cars for both me and my mom but… well, fun, fun, fun until daddy ta…"

"Takes the T-bird away…." Angel whispered.

Buffy offered him a small smile. "I was going to go with shiny cherry Porsche, but yeah. It wasn't until a year later that I got my license taken away after I had gotten in trouble with some friends of mine."

"Sounds more like fun, fun, fun now that daddy took the shiny cherry Porsche away." Angel said, sitting back up in his hair.

"I guess we didn't really let that ruin our fun." Buffy agreed.

"Do you still hang out with these friends?" Angel asked her. "The ones that you got in trouble with?"

Buffy shook her head. "I haven't seen them since before I started my community service, I don't even answer when they call. They are… they are who I run to when things get heavy, when I need someone to talk to just to help me deal. I haven't needed that."

"And what happens when you do need that?" He wondered. "Do you go running back to them or are you going to find a better way to deal?"

Buffy sighed. "I would like to think I wouldn't…"

Angel and Buffy turned towards the door when they heard a knock. "Sorry to interrupt." A brunette with a southern accent stuck her head in the door, Buffy had recently met the young woman, she was one of the teachers in the School Aged classes. "Angel, your parents just asked if you could join the budget meeting…"

Angel nodded at the woman. "Okay Fred, I will be there in a minute." Angel turned to Buffy. "I better get in there, I'm trying to get funding for a live worship band for Kids Ministry."

"Wow." Buffy smiled at him. "That would be awesome. Will I see you later?"

Angel nodded. "Yeah, probably. I might stop by the house later, if I have time. How much longer will your mom be out of town?"

"Two days." Buffy answered as they both stood up.

"I can't believe it has already been almost a week." Angel thought out loud, then looked back to Buffy. "I'm sorry to cut this short, if you want to talk again…"

"Yeah." Buffy smiled. "Sure."

0o0o0

"Woah, woah, woah!" Xander exclaimed, holding his hands up, with a hammer in one hand, to stop his friend from talking. "You are telling me that Buffy is just at the church because of community service? I don't get that… I mean, she loves Kid's Min, like loves loves it. I saw her with those kids on Sunday."

"She loves, loves it?" Oz asked with a smirk, sorting through his tools. They hadn't gotten as far as they would have liked with the Summers' basement but he and Angel had school and the Worship team and Xander also worked at the church building new sets and leading the design team. "So not just a little love?"

Xander shook his head. "Who knew!"

"I knew." Oz shrugged.

His two best friends turned to look at him.

"What?" Oz asked. "When she showed up on her first day, she was asking for Andrew but I knew that someone was going to be stopping by for Jenny and when Buffy said Snyder sent her, I just put two and two together. The troll is always sending people that he feels are a lost cause. I mean, look at me."

"You weren't a lost cause, Oz." Angel shook his head. "You were bored, Sunnydale High wasn't advanced enough for you."

Xander nodded. "But I don't see Buffy as a lost cause either."

"I don't either." Oz said.

"Did she say why she got in trouble?" Xander asked Angel.

Angel shook his head.

"I bet Willow knows." Xander told his friends. "They seem to be getting close." He turned to his shorter friend. "Oz, why don't you ask Willow?"

"Me?" Oz asked slightly panicked, it looked a lot like his calm demeanor. "Why me?"

"Because you like her." Angel smiled.

"You like Buffy." Oz shrugged. "Can't you just get the information straight from the source?"

"She didn't offer the information and I didn't push." Angel shook his head, looking around the basement. He still needed to talk to Will Snitch, the landlord, to see if they could finish the basement.

"When is her community service up?" Xander asked.

Angel sighed. "A few weeks."

Oz sat down on the bottom step of the basement, they clearly weren't going to get much work done today. "Do you think she will stick around after?"

Angel shrugged. "I was hoping to ask her out on a date when she turned eighteen but…"

"But she isn't saved." Oz added.

Xander nodded. "And if she doesn't keep going to church then…"

Angel nodded. "I was just starting to get over the whole seeing her in a towel thing, I got through a conversation with her without imagining her in a towel and now this."

Xander laughed, the whole situation with Angel walking in on Buffy was just amusing. "What if we could get her to stay? I mean, it's obvious that she likes you, Angel. I bet you could get her to stay after her community service is up."

"Do you know what time of year it is, Xander?" Angel asked. "I have finals and my thesis, not to mention the new Bible group on campus."

"Can't you get like extra credit in one of your Pastoral classes if you save someone?" Xander asked.

"I'm not the one that does the saving." Angel said leaning against the basement wall. "All I can do is help guide."

"Then do it!" Xander exclaimed, earning a laugh from Oz.

0o0o0

Buffy walked into the front door of her house just as Angel, Oz and Xander were coming up from the basement. She was a little sad to be leaving the Giles' house but her mother would be back later that night and she still had more homework and Bible study to do. "Hey guys, are you headed out?"

Oz nodded.

"Yup." Xander smiled. "I gotta get back to my video games, Oz is going to the Giles' house for dinner and Angel has other plans."

"Oh." Buffy gave them a half smile. "So, no pizza night for us?"

Angel shook his head, he was happy that he was finally seeing Buffy in her actual clothes instead of the towel because she looked really good in the white and pink flower sundress she was wearing. "Wish we could but I have to get going or I'm going to be late."

"See you guys later then." Buffy waved as the guys all walked towards the door.

Xander stopped and turned back towards Buffy. "Your phone has been ringing off the hook pretty much every day while we are here. You and your mom must be pretty popular."

Buffy laughed at Xander's comment, but she didn't know who could have been calling, everyone that would call her or her mom knew that they wouldn't be there for the week. Unless it was her dad, but she found that highly unlikely. Once the guys left, she went over to the answering machine and pressed play. She rolled her eyes, the first five messages were all from Pike, then there were a couple from Benny and lastly, there were several from Faith. Buffy hit delete all before grabbing her backpack from near the door, she was about to head upstairs when she heard a knock at the door.

She pursed her lips and wondered who it could be, unless one of the guys forgot something. Opening the door, Buffy frowned when she saw the three people that she should have been expecting.

"Hey, Bitch!" Faith smiled. "Why don't you ever answer the phone anymore!"


	10. Old Friends

Sassy.B93- Thank you for the review, they inspire me to write quicker!

Chapter 10: Old Friends

Buffy shouldn't have been surprised to see her three friends on the other side of the door, but she was. She hadn't seen Faith, Pike and Benny in weeks and hadn't talked to them in just as long, which is probably the exact reason they came to her house. She should have at least contacted Faith, if she had then Faith may have been able to come up with a reason for them not to bother her. Faith always had her back.

"Yo, B!" Faith laughed. "What are you wearing?"

Benny laughed, as he wrapped his arm around Faith's neck and looked the blonde up and down. "Yeah, Buff. I don't get it…" Buffy was never the type of girl to wear a flowery dress like that, not that he knew anyway.

"My girl playin' house?" Pike laughed as he walked into the Summers' house, reaching out for Buffy.

Buffy stepped out of the blondes reach, she didn't want him to touch her and that had very little to do with the fact that he smelled like alcohol, that just added to it. "What are you guys doing here?"

Pike laughed again, then looked at his other two friends. "We have been calling you for like two weeks, Buff. Where have you been?"

"My mom was out of town." She told him, still making sure to stay a safe distance from him. "I went to stay at a friend's house."

Faith scoffed. "Come on, B." The dark-haired beauty shrugged Benny's arm off her shoulders and reached for Buffy. "Let's get you changed out of that stuff."

"Then we will paint the town red!" Benny laughed throwing his hands in the air.

0o0o0

Buffy rolled her eyes as Benny and Pike walked a few feet ahead of her and Faith, the guys had already been drinking before they had gotten to her house, according to Faith. They were still drinking now, which annoyed Buffy. She knew that if they got caught then she would get into trouble all over again and that was the last thing she wanted. She shouldn't be here, she didn't want to be here, but she couldn't deny that she had missed Faith. Buffy sighed, looking down at her outfit, her tight black leather skirt, tight black tank top and her black leather jacket, it was an outfit that she had worn a hundred times before but now, she felt uncomfortable in it. It was strange to think that just two weeks before, this was what she wore on a regular basis. Before she got in the fight with Larry, before she got suspended, before she got assigned to do community service at Awaken Church and before Angel. This wasn't her anymore, she felt so uncomfortable with how tight her clothes were. Earlier today when she was wearing the sundress that Jenny had bought her, she was comfortable. Buffy zipped her leather jacket to cover up the amount of cleavage that was exposed in the lowcut tank top.

Buffy rolled her eyes again when Pike and Benny laughed obnoxiously loud over something that wasn't even funny unless you were drunk. "They are so stupid."

"Yeah, they are." Faith laughed, when she realized the blonde wasn't laughing, she turned to look at her friend. "Wait, are you serious? You used to… What changed? Like seriously, B. We come to town and you aren't happy to see us, you are dressed like you should be handing out copies of the Watchtower."

Buffy shrugged. "Maybe I should be."

Faith shook her head. "Come on, B. Talk to me."

"I got in trouble again." Buffy stopped walking, causing Faith to stop, the brunette look ahead of them to see the guys still staggering and laughing, but she turned back to Buffy. "I got in a fight at school, got suspended, got assigned community service and I JUST went back to school."

Faith made a disgusted face. "Community service? Like picking up trash on the side of the road?"

Buffy shook her head. "Like helping in the Kids Ministry at a church and I like it Faith, I really enjoy doing it."

Suddenly, Benny turned around in the middle of the road and shouted towards the girls. "Hey Buff! You still got that fake ID?" He held up an empty bottle, shaking it. "We gonna need more."

Pike laughed. "Our fake ID's got taken away."

Buffy shrugged. "I don't have one, I wouldn't use it for you even if I did."

"Oh, come on, Buffy!" Benny shouted. "You always get off easier than us, your old man lawyer made sure of that."

Buffy rolled her eyes and turned back to Faith. "Look, Faith… I really like the life I am building here. I'm happy. I don't want to ruin that."

Faith looked around the street they were on. "What's so great about this place?"

"I like my friends here, my relationship with my mom, my teachers, my church, my Pastor and his family and I even like the only coffee shop they have in this town!" Buffy exclaimed.

Faith smiled at her only real friend. "There's a guy."

Buffy shook her head and let out a short laugh. "And there is a guy."

"You better tell Pike about this guy before he gets down on one knee with a ring pop." Faith laughed, then offered Buffy a smile. "I'm happy for you, B. I am. All you had to do was tell me."

"Just tell you?" Buffy asked. Now why didn't she think of that sooner?

Faith nodded. "You are the only person I really trust, B, the only one I really care about and the only person who ever really showed they care about me. If you had said to leave you out of our drama then I would have made sure it was done. You know I got your back."

"Yeah." Buffy nodded. "You do."

"So…" Faith smiled wider. "Who is this guy?"

Buffy laughed, linked arms with Faith and walked down the sidewalk while the two guys walked clumsily in the middle of the road. She really had missed Faith, the other two, she could live without.

0o0o0o

Buffy and Faith leaned against the brick building on main street, as they sipped on their drinks from the movie theater. While Buffy had actually wanted to see the movie, Pike and Benny were so loud that she couldn't even hear what was going on, so they decided to leave early. Originally, the guys wanted to get into some trouble but Faith had recommended seeing a movie. Now, Buffy and Faith were talking about Buffy's new life, while Benny and Pike were trying to leap frog over the parking meters.

Pike wondered over to the girls, leaving Benny to try to jump over the meter alone. "Where can we get some good food around here?" He asked rubbing his stomach.

Buffy raised her eyebrows at him. What had she ever seen in him? "We are on Main Street, pretty much everything food wise this town has to offer, is right here."

Pike walked over, throwing his back against the brick wall and draping his arm around Buffy's shoulder. "Or we could go back to your house and you could cook me something."

Buffy rolled her eyes, like that would ever happen! She didn't know how to cook. "I would poison you."

Pike looked confused but then laughed.

"Hey, B." Faith pushed off the wall, turning to face Buffy. "Don't look now but there is a guy across the street, he's been staring at you for a couple minutes."

"What?" Buffy scanned the area across the street, despite Faith telling her not to. She stopped when she locked eyes with Angel Giles from across the street in The Espresso Pump. "Angel."

"Angel?" Faith asked. "That the guy you like?"

"Like?" Buffy laughed. "Kind of more like love."

Faith smiled brightly. "You never told me who he is."

"He's the Pastors son." Buffy told her.

Faith laughed. "Oh my GOD! You fell for a Pastors kid!"

Buffy smiled and nodded. "He wants to be a Youth Pastor too."

"As I live and breathe." Faith jumped up and down. "I can't even right now!"

Buffy looked around Faith when she heard a familiar sound, Pike yelling at someone and Benny egging him on. The blonde gasped when she saw Pike was heading straight for Angel.

"Oh my…" Buffy looked both ways down the street before running as fast as she could in her tight skirt, with Faith on her heels.

"You lookin' at my girl?" Pike drunkenly shouted at Angel.

Angel look around him to see who the young man was yelling at but everyone around him was just as clueless as he was.

"What?" Pike shouted again, this time closer to Angel. "Your girl not good enough? You gotta check out mine?" He pointed to the blonde girl sitting beside Angel.

"I'm sorry, I don't know wh…" Angel trailed off. "Who are you?"

Things escalated quickly because Pike had been drinking most of the night, he grabbed Angel by the front of his shirt right as Buffy reached them. Buffy put herself between Angel and Pike, grabbing the blonde-haired boy's arm and knocking his grip away from Angel's shirt. "Back off, Pike!"

"You defending this guy?" Pike shouted at Buffy and tried to move past her to get to Angel.

"Pike, you are drunk and acting extremely stupid right now." Buffy paused and shrugged. "Although the stupidity thing, gotta say, not a far jump from sober you."

"Seriously, Buff?!" Benny shouted. "Just let him do it! Hit 'im, Pike!"

"Pike, I am only going to give you two options." Buffy raised her eyebrows at the young man that she used to call her boyfriend. "You either back off or this is going to end in two hits. Me hit you, you hit the ground."

Faith let out a soft laugh, she knew Buffy would do exactly what she was threatening to do because she had done it before. There were times when Buffy wasn't amused by the behavior of her friends and she would still go along with it, but there were those rare times when Buffy refused to go along with what they were doing and she made that known, normally to Pike because Benny was Faith's boyfriend. If anyone was to knock Benny down a peg, it would be Faith. Faith looked between Buffy, Pike and this guy she now knew was Angel. There was a big change in Buffy, she was completely uninterested in everything they used to do, she was pretty sure the Pastors son had something to do with that.

Pike glared at Angel before taking a step away from Buffy, he pointed at Angel. "You been touched by an angel."

"No." Buffy whispered. "I was." She turned to look back at Angel as Pike backed away, acting as though he was a tough guy and he didn't just get threatened by a small blonde girl. Buffy's eyes went from Angel to the blonde girl beside him and back to Angel, then she mouthed 'I'm sorry'.

Faith pushed Benny away from Angel and the now crowd of people that had formed around what they thought was going to be a fight.

Buffy looked back at the couple in The Espresso Pump again. Was Angel on a date? Xander had said that Angel had other plans, those plans included a pretty blonde girl. After everything that Pike and Benny had done tonight and the fact that Pike thought he was going to drunkenly fight Angel, the thing that really got to her was that Angel was with a girl.

0o0o0

Pike and Benny were laughing and talking about how badly Pike could have beat up that guy. Buffy couldn't deal with it anymore, shoving her hands in the pocket of her leather jacket she shrugged. "I'm out."

The two boys turned to Buffy, shock written all over their face. "What?"

"You heard me." Buffy looked at Pike. "I'm over it."

Benny shook his head. "Is this about that guy back there?"

Pike widened his eyes in shock. "Are you having sex with him?!"

Buffy looked at both of the guys and then to Faith. "Are you kidding me?"

Faith shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.

"No!" Buffy shouted at the blonde. "I am NOT having sex with him."

Pike shrugged. "What's a man supposed to think? We have been together for two years, Buffy, and we haven't had sex!"

"God, Pike!" Buffy exclaimed. "Why is everything always about sex? You know what? You aren't a man! That guy back there… he is sweet, kind, caring, genuine and he makes me smile. He makes me laugh when all I want to do is cry because my life has monumentally sucked! He is a real man. I'm not going down the rabbit hole with you, not anymore. I'm done."

Faith watched Buffy turn around to walk away, turning towards her boyfriend and his best friend, the brunette pointed over her shoulder at the blonde. "Yo, my girls out…" Faith shrugged. "Me too."

The two guys turned to each other. "What the hell just happened?" Benny shouted.

"Yo, B!" Faith called out, jogging up to her friend. "Wait up."

Buffy smiled at Faith as the brunette threw her arm over her shoulder.

0o0o0o

Joyce heard girls laughing as she walked into the house, carrying her luggage, the flight back from New York had been really tiring. She didn't think that Buffy would have friends over this late but at least it wasn't a school night. Setting her bags by the door, Joyce walked through the foyer and into the living room, she was surprised to see Buffy and Faith sitting on the couch, Chinese takeout containers laying all over the coffee table with a black book in Buffy's lap as she pointed out something on the page.

"Hi, girls." Joyce called out to them before looking around the living room and then behind her.

Buffy smiled at her mom. "If you are looking for Pike and Benny, they aren't here."

"Oh!" Joyce smiled at her daughter and her friend. "What are you girls doing?"

"B showed me this cool book." Faith picked up the book from Buffy's lap. "It's a little confusing but Buffy's got these nifty notes written in it."

Buffy laughed. "How was your trip, mom?"

Joyce sighed, her trip had gone better than she expected and she couldn't wait to meet with Mr. Nabbit the next day. "It was good."

"Have you eaten, Mrs. S?" Faith asked pointing towards the food on the coffee table. "We have a lot left over."

Buffy nodded at her mom. "Our eyes were a little bigger than our stomachs."

"Sure." Joyce smiled, walking into the living room and taking a look at the food the girls had been eating. Joyce picked up a container with Kung Pao Chicken in it then sat in the chair across from the girls. "So, Faith, how long are you staying?"

Faith shrugged. "I'm gonna need a way back to LA, I'm currently not talking to my ride."

Joyce nodded. "Are you back in school now?"

Faith scrunched up her face, she had dropped out of school a couple years before but Joyce Summers always made it seem like she would be going back anytime now. "Nah, it's not really my thing."

"Well, why don't you stay here for a little while?" Joyce smiled at the brunette, she had always liked Faith even though she was a little rough around the edges. She didn't have the easiest life.

"Well…" Faith pretended to think for a moment. "I would have to ask my mom but…. Oh, who am I joking..." She shrugged. "She's probably still passed out drunk. Sure, why not!"

Joyce shook her head, the poor girl didn't have any time of adult guidance at all. Her mother was either drunk or on drugs and her father had left before Faith was even born. "So, what book were you reading?"

"The Bible." Buffy smiled at her mom.


	11. I Didn't Know You Baked

Allison117- Thank you! Oh, Pike and Benny definitely have to go! We will find out who the blonde is very soon, like the kind of soon that is this chapter!

Sassy.B93- I love Faith, I think she is a great character! Thank you for the review!

I just found out today that I'm going to have to take a quick trip to New York, weird since Joyce just got back from there in this story. Haha I will be leaving on Friday and I should only be there a couple days but I won't be able to update in that time. Sorry. But on the plus side, I wrote chapters 11 and 12 today and I will write as much as I can tomorrow.

Chapter 11: I Didn't Know You Baked

Buffy rolled over on her back and groaned, today was probably going to suck. Today was the first time since starting her community service that she dreaded going to Awaken Church. She had so many questions circling in her head. Who was the blonde girl with Angel the night before? Were they dating? What would Angel think of her after what had happened with Pike? Letting out a whimper, Buffy rolled over again, hiding her face in her pillow.

"B, if you don't stop whimpering over there, I'm going to put you out of your misery." Faith mumbled into her pillow, half asleep.

"Faith!" Buffy exclaimed, shooting up in bed. "I'm going to see Angel today! What am I going to do?"

"'Kiss him and get it over with." Faith mumbled again, not moving.

Buffy gasped. "I can't kiss him! I can't make the first move! He would think I was a …a… a hussy or something! And what if he's dating that girl from last night? Do you know how much that would suck? I mean, his mom said he liked me but then I puked all my delinquent-ness on him and he probably doesn't like me anymore! His mom is all for it, you know? Me and him, not my delinquenty-ness. I'm sure she knows if he is dating someone, it's like he tells her everything. He even told her when he walked in on me in the bathroom. She PROBABLY knows about this girl!"

Faith sighed dramatically, forcing herself to sit up and look at Buffy. "Do you want me to go with you?"

Buffy gave her friend a confused look. "To my community service? Why would you do that?"

"Oh, thank God!" Faith threw herself back down on the bed. "I need to get sleep that isn't interrupted by your crying."

"I'm totally not crying!" Buffy shoot her friend an annoyed look.

"You are totally crying." Faith sat back up, rubbing her sleepy eyes. "I really don't see why you can't make the first move, guys don't think a girl is a hussy just because she kisses a guy first. They find that hot."

Buffy shook her head. "I can't. I have to wait until I'm eighteen. His mom said."

Faith raised her eyebrow. "His mommy said? What is he, two?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "No, he's twenty-one, which means he is a legal adult and I'm not."

"Going for the old men now, huh B?" Faith laughed.

"Shut up." Buffy shook her head with a laugh. "I just want to make sure there is no possible way he could get in trouble. Plus, with him wanting to be a Youth Pastor, he can't be caught making out with a youth!" Buffy said causing Faith to laugh. "I don't want to bring any kind of humiliation to…"

"Woah!" Faith laughed. "You really do love him!"

Buffy smiled, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"Does he have a brother?" The brunette teased.

Buffy shook her head. "Not biologically. He's an only child but he has a best friend that is like his brother, Oz, and he even has a bedroom at the Giles' house. Oz is taken though… or he will be, as soon as my friend Willow gets up the courage to ask him, or he does."

"Willow, Angel, and Oz." Faith repeated their names. "With names like those, you certainly did move to the right town."

Buffy laughed as she got up from her bed. "I gotta get ready."

"Hey, B!" Faith called out to her friend, Buffy stopped at her closet and looked back towards her. "You seem to have a good thing going here, I'm happy for you." Faith laid back down, covered up and got more comfortable. "But, I will be even happier for you after, mmmm, three more hours of sleep." Then Faith sat back up. "Did you say he walked in on you in the bathroom?"

0o0o0

Buffy quickly set the art supplies out on the small tables, she was running late and needed to get everything done or she would be at the church later than expected and her mother wanted to take her and Faith out for dinner.

"Hey, Buffy." Jenny smiled, walking into the classroom. "How was your night with your mom?"

"Hmm?" Buffy looked up. "Oh, it was good. We hung out for a little while."

"Buffy…" Jenny looked at the blonde, oddly. "Are you okay?"

Buffy stood up and looked at her friend. "Why?"

Jenny laughed. "Well, you are putting the third-grade craft in the three-year old class."

Looking down at the table with the crafts on it, Buffy sighed. Jenny was right. "Oh man! I think I put the two-year old craft in the fourth-grade class."

"It's okay." Jenny shrugged. "Sometimes they act like two-year old's. What's up, Buffy?"

Buffy sighed again, plopping down in one of the small children's chairs. "I have just been running the destruction of any chance I had with Angel over and over again in my head."

"What do you mean?" Jenny asked, confused, she sat down in one of the chairs on the other side of the table.

Running her fingers through her hair, Buffy pursed her lips. "He didn't tell you?"

Jenny shook her head, waiting for the blonde to answer.

"Well…" The blonde took a deep breath. "Last night, some old friends of mine came into town and had a little, I don't know… a run in with Angel. I didn't want them to be there to begin with, I was happy with how things were going without them around and then they just showed up last night and wanted to slip right back into old habits but that doesn't fit into my life anymore."

Jenny leaned forward in her chair, placing her elbows on the small table. "Are these the friends that you got in trouble with before?"

Buffy nodded. "My ex… he doesn't act very ex-y, sometimes… we saw Angel at the Espresso Pump, he had been drinking…"

"Angel had been drinking?" Jenny asked shocked. Although Angel was twenty-one he very rarely drank.

Buffy shook her head. "Pike… that's my ex-boyfriends name, he was drinking before he even got to my house, he saw Angel just looking at me and he like, flipped. I swear, I thought he was going to hit Angel. Angel doesn't come off as the type that would throw a punch but just looking at his muscles, he would have broken Pike in half! But I wasn't even thinking that at the time! All I was thinking was to get him away from Angel because I didn't want Angel to know that part of my life. I mean, I told him about it yesterday so he knows ABOUT it but I don't want him to know it. Ya know?"

Jenny smiled at the blondes rambling.

"And then I had to go and threaten Pike." Buffy continued. "In front of Angel! Because I know, I know that is the only way to make Pike back off. Then to make it worse, there was a girl! With Angel… is he dating her?"

The dark-haired woman's smile fell from her face, and she looked surprised. "There was a girl with Angel?"

Buffy nodded, sadly. "A blonde."

"A blonde?" Jenny repeated. "I have no idea who that could be, he didn't tell me that he had any plans for last night. You should ask him who it was." Jenny watched Buffy for a moment. "Or I could ask him."

"Is he here?" Buffy wondered, she would really like to know right at that moment, she couldn't think of anything else but him with that other girl.

Jenny shook her head. "He called Rupert this morning, he is going to take a few days off. Devon is going to take his spot tomorrow for Worship. He didn't say why, but he hasn't missed church, well, ever."

"Do you think it's because of me?" Buffy asked with wide eyes. "I mean, think about it, he has never missed church before and now all the sudden he isn't coming! Or maybe it's because he has a new girlfriend!"

"Of course not, Sweetie!" Jenny exclaimed. "I don't think it has anything to do with you, at all and I would hope if he had a new girlfriend then he would tell me about her and that he would bring her to church."

"Well, now I'm worried about him." Buffy looked down at her hands, then back up at Jenny. "Should I call him? Or would that make me look desperate?"

Jenny thought for a second. "Have you ever called him before?"

"Called him or called him and actually talked to him" Buffy asked. "Those are two very different things."

Jenny laughed. "Oh, Buffy! You certainly are something else."

0o0o0

"Are you serious?" Willow whispered as she and Buffy watched the four-year old's eat their snack after Buffy had finished the Bible lesson.

Buffy nodded. "It was horrible!"

"It sounds it." Willow agreed. "And you haven't seen or heard from him since?"

Buffy shook her head. "Jenny said he is taking a few days off too."

Willow nodded. "I noticed that he wasn't leading the prayer team this morning before first service. You don't think it has to do with what happened with Pike, do you?"

"Jenny doesn't think it has anything to do with me." Buffy shrugged. "Maybe I'm just paranoid."

"You will see him soon and you can ask him." Willow assured her. "And who do you think the blonde was?"

"No idea." Buffy sighed, looking at the kids eating. "Jenny has no clue either."

"Well, what if it's someone that is interested in dating him?" Willow panicked. "What are you going to do? Are you going to fight for him?"

Buffy gave will an odd look. "Fight for him? Willow, if he wants to be with someone then who am I to say he can't be?"

"But… but…" Willow frowned, frustrated. "But, you love him."

"I'm also seventeen and he is twenty-one." Buffy tucked her hair behind her ear. "Maybe he wants someone that he can date right now."

"Yeah, well…" Willow struggled to think of something to say. "I bet she can't cook! So many girls can't cook these days and Angel loves a homecooked meal!"

Buffy smiled and shook her head at the redhead before stepping closer to the kids. "Who remembers the Bible verse from last week?" Little hands flew up in the air to be called on first. "Okay, let's clean up our snack and line up! If you can tell me the Bible verse you will get one of our awesome new stickers!" Buffy turned to Willow with a small smile. "Hey Will, when do those cooking classes start?"

Willow smiled and jumped up and down excitedly, which got the kids excited too.

0o0o0

Buffy looked around as all the students piling onto the busses that belonged to their assigned groups. She looked down at the printed off paper that Dr. Gregory had passed out the day before with the bus number and schedule for their field trip group. Everyone was so excited to be going to the Sunnydale Zoo, Buffy didn't see the point. If you have seen one Zoo, you have seen them all. Buffy rolled her eyes when she saw Larry and his friends getting on the bus that she was supposed to be getting on. She really didn't want to deal with any jocks today, not that she really had a choice in the matter. Folding her schedule up, Buffy adjusted the bottom of her dress, if she had to walk past any of those guys on the bus then she didn't want to give them any extra ammo.

Buffy stopped in her tracks when she heard Principal Snyder, she had been doing so well with staying off his radar since she returned to school. "Summers, where do you think you are going?"

"On the bus." Buffy pointed towards the large school bus. "It's the exciting Zoo trip…"

Principal Snyder shook his head. "Not on that bus you aren't."

Glancing back at the bus then to Snyder, Buffy opened her mouth to speak then shut it again. "I'm in Dr. Gregory's group…"

"Not anymore." Snyder motioned towards a bus in the back. "You are over there."

"Dr. Gregory said…" Buffy was cut off by the pointed look the school Principal gave her.

"You need to be on that bus!" Snyder pointed quickly. "With the do-gooders that will keep a constant eye on you!"

Buffy raised her eyebrows at the small man but decided not to say anything, she had her conversation with Angel, Oz and Xander in the back of her mind, constantly. She walked slowly towards the bus, turning to look back, she saw that Principal Snyder was still watching her. Climbing up the stairs of the school bus, she looked towards the back when she heard her name being called.

"Buffy!" Willow called from the back of the bus, waving at her friend. "I thought you were in Dr. Gregory's group!"

Buffy smiled and was about to head towards the back of the bus to sit with Willow when she heard someone clear their throat behind her. Turning around, she saw Principal Snyder right behind her, giving her a suspicious look and pointing to the empty front seat. Buffy pouted, but sat down where she was told. He motioned for her to scoot further over to sit by the window, which she obliged. She knew from past experience who the front seat was reserved for during field trips, she was going to be sitting with the chaperone.

Turning to look out the window, Buffy felt someone sit down on the seat beside her. Turning to see who the chaperone of this group was, Buffy was surprised to see the person bending down to grab a clipboard that was under the seat. "Angel?"

He put the clipboard in his lap, turning his head to the left to look at her. "Buffy?" Angel shook his head as he looked at the list on the clipboard. "I don't have you on my list."

"Snyder kind of forced me in this group. Said I needed to be with the do-gooders that will keep constant eyes on me." Buffy told him. "I was supposed to be in Dr. Gregory's group." She handed him the folded paper that her science teacher had given her.

Unfolding it, Angel read the paper. "I'll just add your name then." He wrote her name at the bottom of the list. "I'll be back." He stood up and started walking down the bus isle.

Buffy watched him as he talked to several of the students. She was suddenly happy that Snyder had forced her to switch groups, now she would have the opportunity to talk to Angel. When he sat back down, Buffy saw that all the student's names on the clipboard now had check marks next to them. Buffy looked up when she heard talking and laughing. She smiled when she saw Xander and Oz passing the bus driver.

"Nice of you guys to join us." Angel looked up at his friends and smiled. "We were about to leave."

"His fault." Oz pointed in front of him at Xander. "He wanted food."

"Hey Buffy!" Xander smiled at her. "I didn't see you on the list for our group!"

"Snyder switched her at the last minute." Angel looked at Xander. "Where are your snacks?"

Xander shrugged and started to walk towards the back of the bus. "I ate 'em."

Angel rolled his eyes and smiled. "Couldn't even bring me any."

Buffy bit her lip, she had some snacks in her purse. She and willow had started their cooking class the day before and the instructor having a sweet tooth, taught them how to make brownies. Buffy didn't think she and Willow did that bad of a job. She had tried to get Faith to join them but she had told Buffy and Willow that she didn't need to learn how to cook as long as there was a Pizza Hut. "I have a snack… if you want some… I made it myself." Buffy said, pulling out the baggie with the brownies in it.

Angel smiled. "I didn't know you baked."

Buffy just shrugged. She probably shouldn't tell him that she was learning just to impress him. She handed him the brownies and watched him open the bag.

Angel took a bite of the brownie, closed his eyes and nodded. "This is really good. Is there… is there peanut butter chunks in this?"

Buffy nodded. "is that okay?"

Angel smiled. "It's my favorite."

"Good." Buffy smiled back at him, then without even thinking she added. "Angel, are you avoiding me?"

"Hmm?" Angel asked mid-chew, looking at her. After he swallowed, he shook his head. "I'm not avoiding, I'm chewing."

"Not right now." Buffy whispered. "I mean…" Buffy took a deep breath. "Are you mad at me?"

Angel shook his head confused, as the busses started to pull away from the school and make their way towards the Sunnydale Zoo. "Why would I be mad at you? I'm so confused."

"Just with everything that happened…" Buffy paused. "… the other night… I was just wondering if maybe you were upset with me or avoiding me. I just haven't seen you since Friday."

"I have been busy." He told her, taking another bit of the brownie.

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure it's a busy time with exams, your girlfriend, writing papers…"

"Yeah, I have to write a sermon and deliver it to my class…" Angel trailed off. "Did you say girlfriend?"

Buffy searched his face for any signs, of anything, at all, to help her with what to say next. "That girl that you were with…."

"Darla!?" Angel exclaimed, then looked around to make sure no one was looking at them. "You think Darla is my girlfriend?"

Buffy shrugged. "Weren't you on a date with her?"

"No!" Angel looked around again, he probably shouldn't be raising his voice so much but he didn't want Buffy to think there was a possibility that he was already taken. "I have been trying to do it for a long time but, I finally got the okay to start a Bible study on campus. I'm just helping Darla in her walk."

"Oh, like you did with me?" Buffy asked.

"Yes." Angel nodded but soon shook his head. "No. It's different."

"Why is it different?" Buffy wondered. "Because you helped me once two weeks ago but you are with this… Darla like every day?"

"Every day?" He asked, raising his eyebrows. "How do you know how often I am with Darla?"

Buffy shrugged. "Someone told me."

Angel turned more towards her on the school bus seat. "Who?"

"A mutual friend that we both go to church with…" Buffy told him, she didn't want to tell him who exactly, just in case it upset him that she was talking to someone about him. It felt like she was talking to a lot of someone's about him lately. "They said just this past week alone they saw you with her at the Double Meat Palace, the Espresso Pump, the…"

"Okay, you have to tell me right now, who is stalking me?" Angel looked slightly offended.

Buffy shook her head. "I'm not at liberty to discuss that."

Angel scuffed, turning back around to sit tall against the back of the seat. "But it's someone that is telling you that I'm dating Darla?"

"I didn't say that." Buffy shook her head. "He just said that you were seen with her…"

"He!" Angel whipped back around to face her. "Now, I know it's a he, that narrows it down some. Wait…" Angel paused. "Are you mad at me?" He repeated her question.

Buffy shook her head again. "I just… maybe I wanted to do some Bible study."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Buffy." Angel looked down at the clipboard in his lap. A small part of him was hoping she was upset or jealous. "Did you need help with anything?"

"No. Not now." Buffy crossed her arms over her chest, glancing out the window for a moment. "Your dad has been helping me. He doesn't completely suck, but he's not you."

Angel laughed, causing Buffy to look back at him. "I would assume he is better than I am, he has been a Pastor for almost twenty-two years."

"You just…" Buffy paused for a second. "…explain it better, I guess."

Angel smiled at her. "If you have a question, all you have to do is call me, Buffy."

"That's so much easier said than done." Buffy said with a small smile. "It's not the dialing I have an issue with."

Angel smiled even bigger. "Have you been calling me and hanging up?"

"Pfft." Buffy shook her head, looking straight ahead at the bus drivers seat. "No…"

"You have!" Angel laughed. At least he knew who had been calling him so much, he thought he had a prank caller because the number was always blocked. "You have been calling me and hanging up!"

"This is not about if I call you and hang up or not…" Buffy looked away again.

"Your right." Angel nodded and smiled. "This is about someone stalking me and relaying the message back to you."

Buffy gasped. "It is not!"

"Are you jealous, Buffy?" Angel asked, still smiling.

"Of what?" Buffy asked somberly. "That you might have a girlfriend? No, I'm not!"

"I don't." He corrected her. "What about you? Who was that guy… Pike, I think you called him."

"My ex." Buffy whispered, then added. "We haven't been together for a while but he seems to have a hard time letting go."

"Maybe you need to be a little more forceful with telling him." He said seriously, then offered her a small smile. "Although, threatening to hit him is pretty forceful."

Buffy shook her head and whispered. "That had nothing to do with me and him and everything to do with the fact that he was drunk and going at you."

"My hero." He joked, then asked. "Would he have really hit me?"

Buffy let out a quiet laugh.


	12. Sunnydale Zoo

Asharah- Good idea! Snyder did do them a favor putting Buffy in Angel's group!

Allison117- Hmmm, who could Buffy's man on the inside be that tells her where Angel is with Darla?

Sassy.B93- Buffy and Angel are so cute! Thanks for the review!

I didn't get to write as much as I wanted to today before I have to leave for my trip tomorrow but I am still working on it.

Chapter 12: Sunnydale Zoo

Looking down at the Zoo map in her hands, Buffy walked along the paved path. She didn't know when exactly she was going to meet back up with Willow, but the redhead had been so excited to see the Zebra's for some unknown reason. Xander and Oz had gone with Willow, the two older boys were supposed to be chaperoning along with Angel but in normal Xander fashion, he seemed to be acting like a kid again. Looking up, Buffy saw four other students making their way towards her, she really didn't want to deal with Kyle and his three winged monkeys, Tor, Rhonda and Heidi.

"Oh, look." Kyle smiled. "It's Buffy and all of her friends."

Buffy smiled back at the dark-haired boy. At this point she had heard it all before and she wasn't bothered by what people at school said about her. "That's witty."

Angel turned around from where he was looking at the elephants, at the sound of Buffy's voice, he watched as the four other students walked up to her. He knew those kids had been giving other students a hard time but he didn't know if Buffy was friends with them.

"Do you ever wonder why nobody cool ever wants to hang out with you?" The blonde boy, Tor, asked with a smirk.

Buffy shrugged. "Just thankful."

Angel narrowed his eyes at the group of students, he didn't like the way they were forming a circle around Buffy. He started to walk towards the students.

"Were you this popular at your old school?" Rhonda asked, putting her hands into her back pockets of her jeans. "Before you got kicked out."

Buffy raised her eyebrows at the four teenagers, just as Angel walked up. "Is there a problem here?"

The five teenagers look at Angel, right before the four students started to walk away. "Preacher boy." Kyle rolled his eyes, as Tor glared at Buffy. "Careful, she might beat you up."

"Ignore them." Angel told her. "You okay?"

"Of course, I am." Buffy smiled at him, as they continued walking on the path Buffy had been taking. "It doesn't bother me."

"I have been chaperoning this trip for a couple years now." Angel looked from Buffy to the path. "It's always the same couple of students that cause issues."

"Oh, but this year, there is me." Buffy teased. "So, this trip is every year? You mean, I have the pleasure of doing it again next year?"

Angel nodded. "Maybe you will also get the pleasure of me being your chaperon again."

"That would definitely be a pleasure." Buffy smiled. She hoped by next year, he wouldn't just be her chaperone. "So, Oz said once you finish off this semester then you will be graduating?"

Angel nodded. "Which is why I have been so busy, I'm wrapping everything up." Angel stopped walking, causing Buffy to stop. "When did he tell you that?"

"A couple weeks ago, when I was staying at your house." Buffy shrugged. "I was going to ask you for a ride from the church to your house but you had already left, so Oz offered."

Angel smiled at her and started walking again. "And you guys talked about me?"

"Yeah." She smiled back at him. "Is that a problem?"

"It depends what the topic is." Angel teased.

"All good things." She turned to look at Angel. "So, once you graduate, what's next?"

Taking a deep breath, Angel looked down at the ground. "Working full time at Awaken, taking over the Youth Group from my mom…" He looked around at the other students and families at the Zoo. "I have this idea where in addition to Wednesday night groups for the teens, they could also have their own service just for them on Sunday's."

"Wow." Buffy smiled. She loved hearing him talk about what he had planned. "Is it weird that I like to hear about your plans? You have all these goals and you are making them happen. I'm really excited for you, Angel."

"What about you?" Angel wondered. "You said you don't want to be a lawyer anymore, so what do you want to do?"

"Don't I have like my whole senior year to think about that?" Buffy asked.

Angel shook his head. "Some people already have plans when they are Freshmen."

"You did, didn't you?" Buffy laughed.

Angel shrugged and then needed. "Okay, yeah. I did! I knew what I wanted to be at a young age though."

"I'm kind of leaning towards something." Buffy told him. "I just don't know what sort of education I would need for it."

"Well, what it is?" Angel asked. "Maybe I could help you."

"Thanks." Buffy smiled. "But, I kind of want to get someone opinion on it that has experience in it."

"Hey! Buffy!" Xander shouted as he and Willow ran up to her, Oz walking behind them.

"You missed it!" Willow smiled.

Angel shook his head, he really wanted to keep talking to Buffy alone.

"Missed what?" The blonde looked between her two friends and then to Oz, as he made it up to them.

"We just saw the Zebra's mating." Xander smiled, and looked to Willow. "Thank you, very exciting."

"Definitely interesting." Oz nodded.

Willow smiled excitedly. "It was like the Heimlich, with stripes!"

Buffy looked from her friends to Angel, and somberly replied. "And I missed it. Yet, somehow I'll find the courage to live on."

Buffy and Angel shared a small smile before they continued walking, with their friends in toe.

Willow brushed her long red hair behind her shoulder. "Where were you?"

Looking behind her then back to Willow, Buffy replied. "Uh, I was looking at the fishes."

"Was it cool?" Willow asked, still excited.

Buffy shrugged. "it was fishes."

"I'm feelin' that you're not in the field trip spirit here." Xander asked, motioning around with his hands.

"Well, it would…" Buffy trailed off and started over. "It's just at my old school, in LA, we used to do a Zoo trip every year too. It's the same old, same old."

"Buffy, this isn't just about seeing a bunch of animals." Xander said, looking from Buffy to Willow. "This is about not being in class."

"You're right." Buffy looked around the Zoo with a smile. "Suddenly, the animals look shiny and new."

Oz nodded. "Gotta have perspective."

"Except, Buffy would probably give up the animals to be in Dr. Gregory's class." Willow smiled at her blonde friend.

"You like Gregory?" Oz asked.

Buffy nodded but Willow answered for her. "He's one of the only teachers that doesn't think Buffy is a delinquent."

"Thank you for that, Willow." Buffy smiled.

"Angel likes Gregory too." Oz told the blonde.

Angel nodded. "Believe it or not, I was once upon a time bullied for being the Pastors kid, but Dr. Gregory reminded me that I needed to stay true to myself and everyone else's opinion didn't matter."

"You got bullied for being a Pastors kids? That's ridiculous!" Buffy rolled her eyes. "And instead of giving in to the bullying you decide to become a Pastor yourself?"

Angel nodded.

Buffy smiled, swaying closer to Angel and nudged him with her shoulder. "That's kind of hot!"

Willow's mouth dropped open in shock and both girls laughed.

"Speaking of your delinquent self…" Xander made a popping sound with his mouth. "What exactly did you do to get community service?"

Buffy stayed quiet for a moment as they walked, then took a deep breath. "Well, it seems to be making its way around school, so… I got in a fight."

"With a football player!" Willow jumped in.

"What!?" Xander exclaimed, stopping in his tracks. "A football player? How did you manage that? You're so little!"

"Xander." Buffy whispered, taking a step towards her dark-haired friend. "Haven't you heard, size doesn't matter."

"And it was Larry!" Willow shouted again.

Xander looked from Buffy to Willow and back to Buffy. "Larry? Larry Blaisdell, Larry?"

"What'd he do?" Oz ask, he knew how Larry was, it didn't surprise him at all that he would do something to someone that was finally willing to fight back.

"He grabbed my…" Buffy looked around at her three guy friends. "…assets."

Angel crossed his arms over his chest, looking around the area of the Zoo they were in, it was the only thing he could do to stop himself from saying or doing something he might regret.

"That pig!" Xander exclaimed.

"Totally!" Willow nodded. "and, and he was so embarrassed that Buffy beat him up that he started telling people it was another football player."

"Not just any football player." Buffy smiled sarcastically. "A beefy football player."

Oz let out a short laugh, Buffy was anything but beefy. "When is your community service over?"

"Officially, on Monday." The blonde answered. "I'm going to go in and help clean up after Sunday and then I'm done. It went fast, I can't believe it's already over."

"Man, that did go fast." Xander said sadly. "You are done with community service and we still aren't done with your basement. I blame Angel, he hasn't been helping."

Angel looked at Xander annoyed. "I have been busy with school!"

"Have you even asked Snitch if we could finish the basement?" Xander asked his long time friend.

Angel took a deep breath. "I will."

Buffy shook her head. "It's fine. I'm not in need of a game room."

"I said I would talk to him." Angel told her. "I will call him tonight."

"What are Kyle and his friends doing with Lance?" Willow asked, looking towards the Hyena House.

"Oh, playing with him as a cat plays with a mouse." Xander told her, watching Kyle and his friends laughing about something they had said to the boy with a sketch pad.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "What is it with those guys?"

"They're obnoxious." Willow offered.

Angel nodded. "Professionally."

"Well, every schools got them." Xander turned towards Buffy and Willow. "See, you start a new school, you get some desks, some black boards, and…" He motioned towards the four teens. "some mean kids."

"Yeah, well, I better extract Lance before…" Buffy started but Xander cut her off.

"I got this." Xander waved his hand. "This job doesn't actually require any violence and plus, I'm chaperone guy."

Buffy looked from Willow to Angel to Oz as Xander walked away. "I wasn't going to use violence." She called out to Xander. "I don't always handle things with violence." She turned to Willow. "Do I?"

"What's important is that you believe that." Willow smiled jokingly. "According to Faith, you were big on the violence."

Buffy pouted. "That was before!"

"Who is Faith?" Angel asked.

Buffy smiled at Angel. "My friend from LA, she had been staying with us. She came to town with Pike and his best friend, Benny, but after everything that happened with…" She trailed off, motioning to Angel. "I kind of went off on Pike again and I told them I was done with them and Faith actually left them and came back to my house with me. She's been there ever since."

"You would know that if you came over to help us." Oz teased him.

Angel looked up at the sky in defeat. "I will be there tomorrow, I promise."

"What about Darla?" Buffy asked, looking towards where Xander was still talking to Kyle and his friends.

Willow looked around panicked. "Who's Darla?"

Buffy turned to look at Willow, seriously. "The blonde."

"What?" She said to Buffy before turning to Angel. "Is she your girlfriend, Angel? Are you dating her?"

"He claims Bible Study." Buffy relied.

"Claims?" Angel said looking at Buffy.

Willow looked at her blonde friend, sadly. "What about you?"

Buffy shrugged. "That's what Giles is for."

"Giles Junior or Giles Senior?" Oz said with a small smile.

"I am still here if Buffy needs any help." Angel told them. "I'm just really focusing on Darla and Dru right now because…"

"Darla's a hussy." Oz finished.

"Hey now, Oz, you are a Christian." Buffy smiled. "No judging." Then she turned to Angel. "Is she a hussy, Angel?"

"She's…" Angel thought for a moment, not knowing how to word it. "She has given in to her… desires."

"I will admit, I also have those desires." Buffy said. Although, she has only had them for Angel. "But, marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adultery and all the sexually immoral."

Angel smiled brightly at Buffy. "Hebrews 13:4. It doesn't look like you need me, Buffy."

"Oh, I need you." Buffy smiled. "I need you for other things."


	13. Buffy's Plan

Sorry that it took me so long to update, I ended up having to stay in New York for an extra day and when I got back home the time difference may have kicked my butt a little. I hope to get back into writing a chapter a day. I have a couple of pages of chapter 14 written and I will start editing the next chapter of Determined by Fate right now!

Allison117- Buffy is taking advise from Jenny and putting it out there, Angel is after all, a lot like his father and that was how Jenny got Giles! Darla is a total hussy. HAHA

Chapter 13: Buffy's Plan

Buffy walked briskly into Awaken Church, she needed to meet up with Andrew before he left for the day. Although, she had a great time on the school field trip with Angel as their group chaperone, they had gotten back from the Sunnydale Zoo later than expected. Angel had given her a ride to the church because he knew she needed to get there for her community service, but he had informed her that he wouldn't be staying at the church very long because he needed to get back to campus but he was sure someone could give her a ride but if she couldn't find a ride to call him.

"Dang, girl!" Angel laughed, walking through the front door of the church. "Trying to keep up with you at church is like trying to keep up with my mom."

"Sorry." Buffy shook her head and smiled at Angel. "I didn't think you were coming in, you said you needed to get back to campus."

Angel smiled at her. "I was going to stop in and talk to my dad and Oz about this Sunday."

"Oh?" Buffy glanced behind her to see if she could tell if Andrew was still there. She really needed to talk to Andrew but she would take talking to Angel over anything. "Are you taking this Sunday off again?"

Angel shrugged. "I will probably come for at least one service, unless they really need me."

"Oh, okay." Buffy nodded. "You probably won't be here tomorrow either, huh?"

Angel shook his head. "I really need to focus on my school work, I had already volunteered to do the Zoo trip before things got hectic so I'm going to have to make up for the hours I lost doing homework."

"So, I guess you won't actually be over tomorrow to help with the basement." Buffy wondered.

"Oh, man!" Angel smacked his forehead with his palm. "No, I said I would be there and I will. I might just be a little late."

"Don't be silly, Angel." She offered him a small smile. "School comes first."

"Psst!" Came a hushed whisper, Buffy and Angel looked around but didn't see anyone, Angel raised his eyebrow when the voice sounded again. "Buffy…"

Angel narrowed his eyes at the sanctuary doors, where he was sure it was coming from. "It sounds like you are needed."

"Clearly." Buffy gave him a teasing smile before she turned around to look at the opened door and then back at him. "I'll see you around then."

Angel nodded and smiled before Buffy walked over to the door behind her. He laughed when he watched Buffy slowly walk towards the door and peak around the door to see who it was, before he walked towards his office.

"Psst! Buffy!" Came the voice again, Buffy looked down to see Andrew Well, just the person she wanted to talk to, hunched down on the other side of the door, as if he was hiding. Looking up at Buffy, Andrew glanced around the room and then back to the blonde. "The Eagle was spotted with the sheep in the Bat Cave during the last moon."

"What?" Buffy asked, looking down at Andrew. She really liked Andrew, but sometimes he was a little weird.

"The Eagle was spotted…" He started to repeat himself but Buffy cut him off.

Buffy shook her head. "I heard the words that came out of your mouth, Andrew, I just don't understand what they mean."

Andrew stood up tall. "I saw Angel with the blonde at Pastor Giles house last night."

Buffy nodded her head, but her eyes showed slight fear for the older blonde boy. "Of course, that's what that would mean."

Andrew nodded. "What else would it mean?"

"Don't know." She shrugged. "Anyway, you don't have to keep giving me updates now. Angel told me earlier that he isn't dating her."

"But… but… she was at their house." Andrew said nervously. He really liked Buffy, and he like that Buffy liked Angel.

Buffy shrugged again, she didn't know why Darla would have been at the Giles house the night before, especially since Jenny had said that she didn't know who the blonde could have been. "I wanted to talk to you about something else."

Andrew perked up. "Oh?"

Buffy gave him a small smile. "You still need people for the sound and media team, right?"

The blonde boy nodded. "We always need more people, we would never turn anyone away. Why? Do you know someone?"

Buffy smiled and nodded. "Me."

Andrew laughed. "What?"

"Yeah, me." Buffy repeated.

Andrew stopped laughing. "Buffy, your community service is over after this weekend, what would be the point?"

Buffy looked around the sanctuary and threw her hands up in defeat. "Does everyone know about my community service now? Was it in the church bulletin? Was it, was it in the newspaper?"

Andrew nodded. "Most of the staff knows, but Xander told me. But, Buffy, by the time we got you trained up to be on the team, you …. Wait, does this mean that you are staying? After your community service is done?"

Buffy shrugged. "Why wouldn't I? I figure, I can serve on the Media team first service, teach Kid's Min second service and then attend third…"

Andrew jumped up and down excitedly. "Prayer really does work! When do you want to start?"

Buffy smiled and shrugged again. "if there is anyone to start showing me the ropes tonight after I'm done with the classrooms and sending out emails then I could start training tonight."

"If you feel comfortable enough with what you have learned…." Andrew trailed off. "We do need someone to help out on Sunday."

"I'm in." Buffy smiled.

0o0o0

The next morning, Buffy was at the church early to get some last-minute emails out to the Kid's Ministry team, sanitize the classrooms and redecorate the Kids Sanctuary with the new theme for the series. It was going to be an extremely busy day to start with and to top it off, she was meeting with Andrew afterwards to go over more training for the Media team. She didn't know how much work went into everything that Andrew and his team did and she also didn't know how technology challenged she was but Andrew told her that she didn't completely suck.

"So, what are we thinking?" Jenny asked, walking into the Kids Sanctuary, with a plastic container in her hand. She lifted a roll of duct tape, then looked up at Buffy. She didn't even have to look up to know that Buffy was there, the blonde seemed to be more on top of things than Jenny was at times. "Death Star on the floor made of colorful duct tape?"

Buffy pursed her lips, she had really hoped that Xander would have been able to help out with this part of it because he was the leader of the design team and Buffy herself wasn't very creative, but Xander was busy working on the new set for the adult sanctuary. It also would have helped that Xander was a Star Wars fan and that was the new theme. "Yeah." Buffy looked around at the carpet in the sanctuary. "I'm going to need to run out and pick up the cardboard cutouts of the characters too."

"Which ones did you end up getting?" Jenny asked, setting the container on the counter in the back of the room where the Kids sound team worked their magic. She really loved having Buffy help out, Buffy really lessened the load put on the older woman's shoulders. It was certainly less stressful with Buffy around, she silently prayed that Buffy would stick around after this weekend.

"Han Solo, of course." Buffy smiled, then thought for a second. "Luke, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan, R2-D2, C-3PO, Yoda and… Darth Maul. The last time I spoke with the store manager, which was last night, he said the Princess Leia hadn't come in but if it comes in today then I will definitely grab it too."

"Sounds good." Jenny smiled brightly at Buffy, Jenny pulled her phone out of her back pocket when she heard a ping sound. "Woah, you have been manning some serious hours, Buffy." Jenny scrolled down on her phone. "Do you know you only have a couple more hours of community service left?"

"What?" Buffy asked, looking down at Jenny's phone. "That can't be right, we figured that Monday would be the end."

Jenny shook her head. "According to this, after today you will be done. That's what happens when you practically live here."

"Weird." Buffy shrugged, then looked up at Jenny. "The cardboard cutouts are pretty big, so…"

"Do you need someone to drive you?" Jenny asked, figuring Buffy wanted to go back to work talk, instead of her community service ending. "I'm sure Angel wouldn't mind taking the truck and helping you."

Buffy pouted, she hadn't gotten then chance to see Angel, she didn't even know he was there. "Is he here? He said he had a lot of school work to catch up on."

"Huh." Jenny shrugged. "I just assumed that he was here doing Worship, he has been really busy lately. I worry about him."

Buffy nodded, agreeing with his mother. "He has to write and deliver a sermon to his class, which he is pretty nervous about."

Jenny smiled at the blonde, she was happy that the two were still talking and that Angel had confided in her, when it came to his school work he was normally very private. "He told you he was nervous, huh?"

Buffy nodded, grabbed a roll of the red duct tape and looking back down at the floor before grabbing a piece of folded up paper from the container that held the tape. Unfolding the paper, she looked at how the tape should be placed. "His professor is pretty hardcore and tough with the grades in general, but this sermon…" Buffy got down on her hands and knees, setting the paper down on the floor beside her. It would suck if she screwed up. "… the grading is intense. So many points need to be hit in the sermon and a certain number of verses need to be referenced but growing up, Pastor Giles always taught in series and teaching out of one book at a time, well, you know." Buffy shrugged, of course she knew, she was married to the man. "So, Angel is so accustomed to that type of teaching and that is what he wants to do too."

Jenny smiled as she watched the blonde talk about her son and mindlessly place the red duct tape on the floor in the correct places.

"He's going to do amazingly though." Buffy smiled, finally looking up at the dark-haired woman. "Angel was born for this."

"I couldn't agree more." Jenny smiled wider. "I think you were too."

"Me? Be a Pastor?" Buffy shook her head. "I had a mini panic attack the first day I was supposed to teach the four-year olds."

"Not preaching, Buffy." Jenny said softly, before sitting on the floor with Buffy. "This." She motioned around the room. "There are times when I think you do my job better than I do."

Buffy laughed, it was funny that Jenny said that because it was exactly what she wanted to do. "How exactly did you get this job, Jenny?"

"I married the Pastor." Jenny laughed.

Buffy smiled and nodded, there had to be another way to get into this field without marrying a Pastor. "Is there any… special schooling that you need...?

"Buffy!" Jenny gushed. "Do you want to do what I do?"

Buffy bit her lip and nodded. "I love this job, Jenny. If I could, this is what I would be doing. Whatever I need to go to college for, I will…"

"You don't have to go to college, Buffy. Not at this church at least." Jenny smiled. "Most churches ask that you have a Master's Degree to be Kid's Ministry Director, but I don't have one. I just have a passion for children."

"But you are already the director at Awaken." Buffy reminded her. "I think I want to get my Master's Degree… I'm going to."

Jenny smiled brightly at the blonde, she knew that Buffy was the perfect person for this type of job and for her son.

0o0o0

"So…" Oz trailed off, setting his orange juice down on the table in front of him.

Angel looked up at Oz quickly before looking back down at his notebook he was writing in. He was almost done writing his sermon, then he would just need to edit it. "What?"

Xander looked from Angel to Oz and back again. "I think what our friend, Oz here, is wondering about is… you spent a lot of time with Buffy during the Zoo trip and you have yet to tell us anything."

Angel smiled at the thought of Buffy. "Why exactly would I tell you guys?"

Oz looked to Xander, then to Angel. "Because we are your best friends."

Angel sighed. "We just talked, and worked out a few things…"

"A few things?" Xander leaned forward in his chair, resting his arms on the table in the Sunnydale University cafeteria. "Like what did you have to work out?"

"Well, that guy that I told you about…" Angel uncrossed his leg, setting his notebook on the table. "The one that was drunk." Both of his friends nodded their heads. "She said he isn't her boyfriend, and apparently she thought Darla was my girlfriend."

"That's crazy!" Xander shouted. "Why would she think that?"

Angel sighed again. "She thought Darla and I were on a date that night. And it's exactly that, crazy. Doesn't she know that I'm crazy about her?"

Oz shrugged. "Have you ever actually told Buffy flat out that you like her?"

"Well…" Angel shrugged. "No, not really."

"Then you are in the same boat as Oz." Xander noted. Both of his best friends were having girl problems and his biggest problem was the X button on his PlayStation controller was starting to stick. He really needed to buy a new controller.

Angel looked between his two best friends. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Oz never came out and told Willow that he likes her and Willow told me yesterday at the Zoo that she met someone online." Xander told him.

"On what line?" Angel asked them.

Xander laughed, shaking his head. "Online… on the internet."

"What?" Angel asked again. Meeting people on the internet was a thing? Between his mother's computer smarts and his father's inability to understand anything technology based, he always thought he had fallen in the middle. Right now, he felt closer to his father than ever before, how didn't he know people met online?

Oz nodded. "I guess his name is Malcolm."

Xander nodded, he felt bad for Oz but at the same time, Oz didn't step up. "She met him recently but hasn't told Buffy about him yet… something about a cooking class and a deal that she made with Buffy. I don't know, she went into Willow speak around that time."

"She tell you where he's from?" Oz wondered.

Xander shrugged. "Elmwood."

Angel raised his eyebrows, that was about eighty miles from Sunnydale! He didn't know how often Buffy got on the internet but if Willow spent enough time on the internet to meet someone then Buffy probably did too. Now he had to not only compete with the guys at her school but guys that didn't even live in the same town too! "Oz, you need to ask her out!"

Oz raised his eyebrow at Angel.

"You don't have the same problem as me!" Angel exclaimed. "Willow is already eighteen, I have to wait until Buffy turns eighteen! Ask Willow out!"

Oz shook his head, he wasn't much for competition, if Willow already met someone then he wasn't going to get in the way of that. Buffy on the other hand, didn't seem to have another guy in her life. "She turns eighteen towards the end of next month, right? Are you going to wait until she is eighteen to ask her out or are you going to ask her out before she turns eighteen so she at least knows you like her?"

"Do we even know if she is going to stick around after her community service?" Xander jumped in.

Angel shook his head. "Very good question."

"Ask her!" Both of his friends shouted at him. "Angel, man." Xander turned more towards his hard-haired friend. "Her community service is over on Monday, that means tomorrow is her last Sunday. What if she doesn't come back?"

Oz nodded. "And you said you wanted to take tomorrow off from worship, if you don't go to church tomorrow, who knows if you are going to see her again."

Angel's eyes got large with shock, weren't his friends supposed to make him feel better?


	14. Secrets

Sorry that I didn't get to post yesterday, I worked for a long time on this chapter and then I had to go to work and when I got home I was really tired. This chapter ended up being really long though, so I broke it up into two chapters.

Sassy.B93- Thank you! I did have a good time in New York! I'm originally from New York and I have been thinking about moving back there when I graduate from college.

Allison117- Yes! Angel needs to make a move! I love Xander, I think he is fun to write but he is always a supporting character in my stories because I am hardcore Bangel. I'm sorry that you were experiencing withdrawal, I will update Determined by Fate as soon as I edit the next chapter, which will be very soon! And since I broke this chapter up, I already have chapter 15 written and will post that soon too!

Chapter 14: Secrets

Buffy took a deep breath as she walked into her house, setting her keys on the table by the door. The house was quiet except for the sound of the guys working in the basement. Her mom had taken Faith home earlier that day, she wasn't even in the house five minutes yet and she already missed Faith. Buffy looked down at the floor when she heard what sounded like a power saw. She would go check on Xander and Oz in a minute, she highly doubted that Angel would make it over with the amount of school work he said he had. She was slightly disappointed that she wouldn't get to see him tonight and that he probably wouldn't be at church the next day either.

Charles Gunn, who liked to be called Gunn, had helped her get the Star Wars cardboard cutouts for the new Kids Ministry series. Turned out, Gunn was a friend of Angel's. Gunn was more than happy to talk about his friend and he had confirmed what several other people had already told her: Angel never dated. It was hard for her to believe, Angel was twenty-one and had never dated anyone. It made her wonder even more about him. Maybe he dated casually but had never been in a serious relationship, she knew from when he walked in on her in the bathroom that he had never seen a girl that wasn't fully clothes. It blew her mind that he was still a virgin, a guy that was as attractive as he was, was never a virgin, but it was also refreshing. It was nice to know that, if they got to the next level in their relationship, he wouldn't pressure her to have sex.

Buffy sighed again, she was so tired from rushing around to get everything ready for the new series. It was such a hassle to have to find a ride to pick up something simple for the Kids Ministry, or even to get to and from the church. She couldn't wait to get her license back. Just two more months. She would be able to drive herself places by the time she started her senior year of high school. The only down side was, she didn't have a car anymore, thanks to her dad. Maybe she should talk to Xander about his Uncle that sold used cars, she would have to get at least a part time job to be able to afford anything with wheels.

Setting her purse and bag on the couch, Buffy made her way to the kitchen, running her fingers through her hair. Saying she was just tired was an understatement, she was exhausted, she contemplated just going to bed now but there was an awful lot of sawing going on in the basement. She looked at the clock on the oven in the kitchen, and it was only 6:40PM.

"Okay, guys." Buffy said tiredly as she walked down the basement stairs. "I feel a coma type sleep coming on, so if you want anything…" Buffy trailed off when she saw that Oz and Xander weren't alone, she smiled. "Angel. What are you doing here? I thought you had a lot of school work left to finish up."

Angel shrugged with a smile. "I said I would be here."

Xander looked between his two friends, the way they were looking at each other reminded him a lot of his first meeting with Buffy in her basement. He was pretty sure he could start doing the Snoopy Dance and neither one of them would bat an eye.

"What about a coma?" Oz asked.

Buffy leaned against the basement railing, still smiling at Angel.

Xander snapped his fingers at Buffy to gain her attention. "Coma girl, come back to us!"

Buffy shook her head, turning to Xander and scowling. "What?"

Xander looked towards his best friend, Angel looked like he was about to murder him where he stood. Xander laughed nervously, turning towards Buffy again, he said. "What was it you said about a coma?"

"Oh." Buffy shook her head again. "I'm just exhausted. Long day."

"What happened?" Angel stepped towards Buffy, with a concern look. "Is there anything I can help with?"

Buffy smiled but shook her head. He is so cute! "I just had a lot to do, we were setting up for the new Kids series and I had to find someone to take me to pick up some stuff. It's really annoying not having my license when I actually have stuff to do."

"Opposed to when you didn't have anything to do?" Oz smiled.

Buffy shrugged. "Before I started at the church, I didn't have anything to do."

"Really?" Xander asked, shocked that a seventeen-year old girl that looked like Buffy didn't have anything to do with her time. "What about your friends?"

"In Sunnydale?" Buffy asked. "They were non-existent until I went to Awaken Church. I had no friends at school until I met Willow at church."

"Why?" Oz wondered.

Buffy shrugged again. "I don't play well with others."

"That's bull, and you know it!" Xander laughed. "You are perfectly fine with other people."

"Okay, so maybe I didn't want to get close to anyone because I figured I would just be moving again soon." Buffy looked around at the basement, almost the whole floor was now covered with hardwood flooring, instead of the hard concrete. "And what is going on here?"

"Angel got the okay from Snitch to finish the basement." Oz smiled.

Buffy turned to Angel and smiled. "Really?"

Angel nodded. "And he is going to be knocking down the rent a little each month until the cost of the improvements equals out."

Buffy narrowed her eyes playfully at the man who held her heart. "But we aren't paying for it…"

"I know." Angel shrugged with a smile. "I just left that part out."

"Sneaky." Buffy whispered.

"Sinister even." Xander smiled. "I'm a little proud."

Buffy laughed, watching Angel. "What would your father say?"

"I'm helping someone, I think my dad would be okay with it." Angel shrugged, then turned to Xander. "And God will forgive me."

"Speaking of God…" Oz looked down at his watch. "We better get going if we are going to get to LA in time."

Buffy looked between the three friends. "What's in LA?" Other than trouble for her, nothing.

"Did you forget?" Xander stomped his feet like a small child, before making his way over to his bag by the stairs. Pulling out a few items that looked like tickets. "OutCry Tour."

Buffy gasped. She had completely forgot about the Christian concert that Xander had said he was going to buy her and Willow tickets for. Reaching out, she took the tickets from her friend. "I completely forgot, things have been so hectic lately." Looking down she saw how many tickets there were. "Why are there so many?"

"Well, me…" Xander pointed to himself. "You, Willow, Oz, Angel and I didn't know if Faith was going to still be here or not, so I bought her a ticket too."

"That was sweet." Buffy whispered to Xander before turning to Angel. "Are you sure you can go?"

Angel nodded. If Buffy was going, he was definitely going. "If we leave soon then we will have plenty of time to get to LA."

"And eat." Xander added.

"Willow will be here soon." Oz noted. "We better get home and drop off the work truck and get my van." He turned to Buffy. "Don't worry, I put the seats back in."

Buffy laughed.

"Angel, you should stay here…" Xander suggested, grabbing his bag and rushing up the stairs, past Buffy.

Oz nodded, following Xander. "Yeah, we don't need three people to drop off the truck."

Buffy watched confused as the two men rushed past her. "Yeah, because two people are needed for that."

Angel looked at Buffy, he shoved his hands in his pants pockets and shrugged his shoulders. His friends weren't very subtle about leaving him alone with Buffy.

Buffy nodded her head towards the stairs before turning around and making her way up to the kitchen. "So, what does one wear to a Christian concert?"

Angel followed her through the kitchen and the dining room. "The same thing you would normally wear." Angel bent down and grabbed his bag that was sitting against the glass doors in the living room. It was a good thing he had brought a change of clothes with him, since his friends ditched him, not that he minded. He enjoyed his alone time with Buffy almost as much as it made him nervous.

Buffy reached up, wiping a bit of saw dust off Angel's cheek. "Do you want to shower? The guys kind of left you here… and I promise, I won't walk in on you."

Angel narrowed his eyes at her playfully when she smiled at him. "Thanks."

"Come on. You can shower upstairs, I will be in my room trying to figure out what to wear." She smiled wider at him and started up the stairs.

0o0o0

Angel looked around Buffy's room nervously. He couldn't help himself, he wanted to look at everything in her room, not in a creepy way of course! He just wanted to get to know more about her, but at the same time, his eyes kept going back to her bed. That was what made him nervous, he shouldn't be having these thoughts, he actually got really good at not having those thoughts starting when he was a teenager, then Buffy Summers came bursting into his life and suddenly he was having more lustful thoughts in a day than he ever did when he first hit puberty! Then, he had to go walk in on her in the bathroom, they had started teasing each other about the incident and he had gotten past the visuals every time he saw her but what he still hadn't gotten past, was wanting to see it again.

Buffy must have picked up on his feelings because she gave him a sympathetic look. "Angel, are you okay with being in my room?"

"Yeah… of course." Angel looked around the room again, he walked a little further in, picking up a stuffed pink pig. "I have just never, you know…"

"Spent quality time with Mr. Gordo?" Buffy smiled teasingly from in front of her closet.

Angel looked at her confused. "Excuse me?"

"The pig." She laughed.

"Oh." He looked down at the pig and tossed it onto her bed.

Buffy laughed again. "Have a seat."

Angel looked around the room again, the bed was the closest thing to sit on, but that could only end badly, he wouldn't be able to stop the thoughts. The stool to her vanity was further away from her bed, and it would be awkward if he went further just to sit on something when the bed was right next to him.

"Angel?" Buffy smiled, a small giggle escaped her lips. "You can sit anywhere."

Angel nodded once and automatically sat on her bed. Then, the thoughts came and he had to close his eyes and say a silent prayer.

"Okay, so." Buffy turned towards Angel with two dresses in her hand, a light pink dress that came to her mid-thigh and a blue and white flowered sundress that looked a lot like the one Jenny had bought her. She held each dress up to her in the mirror and then turned to Angel. "I used to be good at this."

Angel gave her a small smile. "Why don't you think you are good at it now?"

Buffy shrugged. "What are people going to think if I show up to a Christian concert wearing the wrong thing?"

"Does their opinion really matter?" Angel wondered. "You should wear what you are comfortable in."

Buffy thought for a second before tossing the short pink dress back into her closet. She sat down beside Angel on her bed, hold the flower sundress. "I guess I'm just a sundress kind of girl now. You can thank your mother for that." She laughed.

"Oh, I can think of a time when you weren't wearing a sundress." Angel said with a small smile, leaning back on her bed, propping himself up on his elbow.

"When?" She asked with a teasing look.

"That night, at the Espresso Pump." He reminded her of the night that Faith had come to town with Pike and Benny. He smiled a little wider at the memory of her in the short black skirt and leather jacket. "Can I tell you a secret?"

Buffy sat up taller and scooted closer to him, she loved secrets. "Of course! Tell me all of your secrets!"

Angel leaned a little closer to her. "I liked how you looked that night."

"Really?" Buffy asked, shocked. She never would have guessed that Angel would be into that.

Angel nodded. "Really."

"Well, check out Preacher boy." Buffy laughed. "You have a dark side."

Angel shook his head with a smile, then reached up to tuck some of her blonde hair behind her ear. "I never used to. I never used to get jealous either."

"Jealous?" Buffy didn't get to finish asking Angel why he would be jealous because the doorbell rang. She looked towards her bedroom door, then back to Angel. He was so close, he could have kissed her, why didn't he kiss her? Would one kiss really hurt? She looked back towards her bedroom door when the doorbell rang again. She really didn't want to leave Angel, he looked way too yummy leaning back on her bed like that, his hair still damp from the shower he had taken. "Will, it's open!"

Angel laughed, looking down at her white comforter. "You shouldn't just yell that."

Buffy shrugged. "It's Willow."

"And if it wasn't?" He asked, slightly more serious.

Buffy scooted closer to Angel on the bed, linking her arm around his bicep. "Then, I have you."

Angel looked down at their connected arms, then up to her face and laughed, as Willow walked into the bedroom. "Hey guys…" Willow looked around, checking to see if anyone else was in the room. "What's going on?"

Buffy smiled, not taking her eyes off Angel. "Angel was just helping me pick out my outfit." Breaking eye contact, Buffy looked towards her red-headed friend. "Which I should change into." Buffy begrudgingly got up off the bed.

Willow eyed Buffy and Angel, she could tell that the blonde didn't want to get up from her spot on the bed next to Angel. Was something going on between them that she didn't know about?

Willow walked down the hallway to were Buffy had gone into the bathroom, she leaned against the doorframe and spoke through the door. "Buffy, did your mom remember that we were going tonight?"

"Um…" Buffy thought for a moment. "Well, considering I didn't even remember, probably not. I will leave her a note or give her a call before we leave."

Willow nodded even though her friend couldn't see her. Buffy hadn't been in any trouble recently, she wanted to keep it that way. "Okay, sounds good." Walking back to Buffy's room, she looked in to see Angel still laying on the end of Buffy's bed holding her stuffed pig, Mr. Gordo. "Hey, Angel."

Looking up from the pig, Angel smiled at Willow. "Hey, Willow."

"So… what's up?" Willow asked slowly.

Angel shrugged. "Just waiting for the guys to get back with Oz's van."

"Well yeah, me too." Willow nodded, she wanted to know what he was doing in Buffy's room, alone with her. Which now that she thought about it, she was now in a bedroom alone with him. She felt like she was doing something wrong, like Pastor Giles would be scolding her right now if he was there. "But, what are you doing in Buffy's room?"

"Helping her pick out something to wear." He said with half a smile.

Willow raised her eyebrows. "Alone."

Buffy walked out of the bathroom and towards her room. "Okay, guys!" Looking between Angel and Willow, Buffy was slightly confused by the look on Willow's face. "What's going on?"

Willow shrugged. "Just talking about you and Angel being alone together. It's kind of a rule for Giles and Jenny that a guy and a girl are never left alone together."

Buffy laughed. "It's not the first time we have been in a room alone together, Will." Buffy walked over, grabbing a pair of light blue strappy sandals from her closet. If she thought even for a second that Angel would kiss her tonight, she would go for her heals. The man was at least a foot taller than she was! "I'm sure it won't be the last. Jenny is cool with it."

"Really?" Willow knew that Jenny was okay with Buffy and Angel being interested in each other but she never thought Jenny would be okay with them being alone together.

"Hellllllooooo" Xander called from downstairs. "We are back!"

Buffy turned to look towards where his voice was coming from, even though she couldn't see him, then turned back to her friends. "Ready?"

Willow nodded, walking out of the room, thinking that Buffy and Angel were right behind her.

Buffy was about to follow the red-head when Angel softly said her name, she turned back to look at him.

Angel gave her a small smile, now having her looking at him, waiting for him to say something, he was suddenly nervous. When Willow had walked in he remembered that she had met someone on the internet, he wanted to make sure that Buffy wasn't doing the same. "Um, Buffy… do you, do you go online?"

"On line what?" Buffy shook her head, not knowing what he was talking about.

Angel laughed, if she didn't know what he was referring to, then maybe she was as clueless as he was when it come to the internet. "Good enough for me."

"We are stopping by the Art Gallery to remind Mrs. Summers about the concert." Willow shouted up the stairs.

0o0o0

After a long discussion about how Oz and Angel were always in the front of the van and Xander had to sit in the back, Xander took the front seat, while Oz drove and Angel sat in the back with Willow and Buffy. Buffy kept looking towards her red-headed friend, who was constantly checking her cell phone. "Will, what's up?" Buffy asked, nodding at the phone in her friend's hand. "You know, I tried calling you like a million times last night."

"Oh, I was…" Willow paused, looking up from her phone. "I was talking."

"Talking to…" When Willow didn't answer, Buffy sighed. "Okay, that's it, you have a secret and that's not allowed!"

"Why not?" Willow asked, looking down at her phone to read a text message.

"Cause…" Buffy brushed her hair out of her face. "There's a rule." Buffy looked to Angel. "Tell her she can't have secrets."

Angel smiled at Buffy, then nodded at Willow. "She wants to know all my secrets too."

"Fine." Willow shrugged. "I kind of met someone."

Oz looked at Willow in the rearview mirror.

"I knew it!" Buffy smiled, excitedly. She was sure that Willow was going to say that she had finally gotten together with Oz, but why did she say she MET someone, she already knows Oz. "This is so important! Spill!"

"We met last week, after we helped out with the books in the library." Willow told her friend.

Buffy cringed, it obviously wasn't Oz. "Does he go to Sunnydale High? What's his name? Have you kissed him? What's he like?"

Willow smiled, thinking about the new boy she had met. "No, Malcolm, no, and very nice."

Buffy rolled her eyes playfully. "You are a thing of evil for not telling me this right away!"

"Well, I wasn't sure there was anything to tell." Willow shrugged. "But last night…" Willow smiled again. "Oh! Last night, we talked for hours! It was amazing! He's so smart, Buffy! And, and he's romantic, and we agree on everything!"

Buffy smiled, and sighed. It certainly sounded like Willow was in love. She knew that feeling very well since meeting Angel. "What's he look like?"

Willow shrugged, still smiling. "I don't know!"

Buffy looked around the van, confused, she made eye contact with Xander who had turned around in the passenger seat, then looked to Angel. "So, you have been seeing a guy, and you don't know what he looks like?" Buffy looked at Willow, who was once again typing something on her phone. "Okay, this is a puzzle. No, wait, I'm good at these. Does it involve a midget and a block of ice?"

Angel tried to keep himself from laughing, he had no idea where Buffy was going with that.

"I met him online." Willow told her.

"On line for what?" Buffy asked, that was the second time in the span of twenty minutes that someone had said that to her.

Willow gave her a pointed look, they lived in the age of computers, Buffy should know what she was talking about.

"Oh!" Buffy exclaimed when it finally dawned on her. She looked up at Angel, did he already know about this Malcolm person? Is that why he asked her if she gets online? "Is that why you are stuck on your phone right now? Are you texting him?"

Willow nodded as her phone went off. "Oh! It's him!" She showed Buffy her phone, so the blonde could read the message 'I'm thinking of you'. "He's so sweet!"

Buffy nodded slowly. "He's a sweetie." She looked back up at Angel, questioningly. Why were the guys being so quiet?

Willow looked to Buffy. "What should I write back?" Buffy had far more experience in the guy department than she did, even if Buffy had only had one boyfriend before.

"Uh, Willow." Buffy said cautiously. "I think it's really great that you have this new pen pal, but don't you think you are rushing into this? Ya'know what I mean?"

Oz nodded in agreement as he drove, he was so happy that Buffy was on his side, even if she didn't know she was on his side.

Willow smiled excitedly. "I'm thinking of you, too!" Her smile slipped from her face. "No, that's incredibly stupid."

"Will, down girl!" Buffy exclaimed to get her friends attention. "Let's focus here, okay? What do you actually know about this guy?"

"See." Willow shrugged. "I knew you would react like this."

"Like what?" Buffy asked. "I just want to make sure you are careful, that's all."

Willow shook her head. "Buffy…"

"He might be different than you think." Buffy said, trying desperately for her friend to see that falling for someone you don't even know isn't the safest thing to do.

"His name is Malcolm Black, he is eighteen, he lives in Elmwood and he likes me." Willow begged Buffy with her eyes to be okay with this.

Buffy shrugged. "Short, tall, skinny, fat?"

"Why is everything about looks?" Willow looked as if she was defeated.

"Not everything." Buffy shook her head. "But some stuff is. I mean, what if you guys get really intense and then you find out… he… has… a hairy back!"

Angel, Oz and Xander all looked at Buffy oddly. Angel mouthed 'A hairy back?" Buffy just shrugged at Angel.

"Well, no!" Willow exclaimed. "He doesn't talk like someone who would have a hair back. And anyway, that stuff doesn't matter when you really care about someone. I mean, I might not be his ideal either."

"Hey!" Buffy scolded her friend. "I'm just trying to make sure he is good enough for you. I think it's great that you met someone."

"How does someone talk like they have a hairy back?" Xander finally asked.

Oz was about to answer but Angel jumped in first. "Like you."

Xander whipped around in the passenger side seat, glaring at Angel then at Buffy when she started to laugh.

"Did we want to eat really fast before the concert?" Oz asked, looking in his rearview mirror again. "Or after?"

"Both!" Exclaimed Xander.

"How much time are we going to have before it starts?" Buffy asked.

Angel looked at his watch. "We should get in line about 30 minutes early, so if we stop first it would have to be pretty fast."

Buffy thought for a moment. "I'm pretty hungry, I haven't eaten in a while. Could we grab a snack?"

Oz nodded at Buffy to confirm that they could do that.


	15. Stud Muffin

Sorry that I didn't update earlier, I had to run some errands after church today, it took a little longer than I expected. I'm prepping for the new semester to start next week.

Sassy.B93- Thank you! I'm debating if I want to move back home to New York or move to California to be with my best friend. California would be the best place just because of the business that I plan to start though. That is so cool that you are from Europe! I have never been there before. I know right, Buffy wants just one kiss too. Why is Willow creeping you out? Haha

Allison117- You will have to see about that kiss. Hehe Thank you!

Ba2006- I will always write Bangel! I love them so much. I have a couple more stories that I have started writing but they aren't anywhere near ready to be posted and I have a few more ideas for Bangel stories that I would like to start writing. There is one that I originally wrote as a challenge in a Yahoo! Group about 11 years ago before I started writing my own stories but the person who took the challenge never wrote it, so I'm excited to take that one on at some point. Thank you!

Chapter 15: Stud Muffin

Buffy and Willow giggled as they watched Xander and Angel eat their snacks, it looked a lot more like a full meal for the both of them, while the other three only got something small. It was Xander's bright idea to stop at Taco Bell, didn't he know what Taco Bell did to you? Buffy whispered something to Willow, earning a nod from the red-head before both girls turned to Oz.

"Can we barrow your van?" Buffy asked.

Xander bit into his burrito. "We have to get going to the concert soon."

"It's only going to take like ten minutes." Buffy pouted.

Oz eyed the blonde and the red-head. "Who's driving?"

"Hello!" Buffy waved her hand at him. "I can't drive for another two months."

Oz looked to see how much food Angel and Xander had left to eat before tossing the keys towards the girls. Buffy was a much better catch, so she caught them before handing them to Willow. "Thanks!" The girls both called behind them as they ran out of the fast food restaurant.

Angel watched the girls get into the van. "Where are they going?"

0o0o0

Buffy and Willow laughed as Faith ran to the back of the van and jumped in. Willow was a little nervous in this neighborhood but she didn't want to be a buzz kill, so she kept her mood up. She had never been to Los Angeles before so Buffy had to give her directions to Faith's house, they were in a pretty bad part of town, which is what Willow had expected from what Faith had told her that her home life was like.

"I can't believe your friend bought tix for me too!" Faith laughed, leaning in between the driver and passenger seat.

Buffy shrugged. "He didn't know if you were going to be at my house or not, so he bought you one just in case."

"That's pretty cool of him." Faith shrugged. She didn't know if she was going to be into this Christian music stuff but she needed something to do since she wasn't in school, she couldn't hold down a job and she wasn't talking to her friends. After this long of not talking to Benny, she was pretty sure they had broken up, and the weird thing was, she wasn't even heartbroken about it. There was also the fact that Buffy had been going on and on so much about God, The Bible and Church that she didn't think it could suck that bad if Buffy was into it. "So, who is all going?"

"Well, us obviously." Buffy smiled back at Faith. "Xander, Oz…"

"And Angel." Willow finished for the blonde, with a laugh.

"Mmmm." Faith smiled at Buffy.

"You should have seen them, Faith!" Willow smiled as she drove back to the Taco Bell to pick up the guys. "When I got to Buffy's house tonight, Angel was in her bed!"

"What!?" Faith exclaimed, happily. "B, did you? With Preacher boy?"

"No!" Buffy exclaimed back. "He was helping me pick out what to wear tonight!"

Faith laughed looking at Buffy's sundress. "And he did you real CHRISTIAN like."

"And what about you?" Buffy rolled her eyes, looking at Faith's outfit, the girl that was famous for leather and skin-tight clothes was wearing blue jeans and a white tank top.

"I didn't know what to wear!" Faith shrugged, then bit her lip as she thought. "I wonder what sex would be like with a Preacher."

"Faith!" Buffy and Willow shouted at the same time.

"What? Like you have never thought about it, B?" Faith laughed. "I know you have, you are jonesin' so bad for your stud muffin!"

"Well…" Buffy smiled. "I can tell you, it certainly wouldn't be boring."

Willow gasped, looking over at her blonde friend, then her eyes went to her cell phone that was sitting in the cup holder between her and Buffy.

"No!" Buffy exclaimed. "You are driving, Will, don't even think about it."

Faith looked between the two girls in the front seat. "What?"

"Willow met a guy on the internet and she has been texting him non-stop." Buffy told her dark-haired best friend.

"Ah." Faith nodded. "Malcolm."

Buffy whipped her head back to look at Faith. "You know?"

Faith nodded. "Course, Red told me."

"Am I the only one that didn't know?" Buffy asked, shocked. "Wait, do the guys know?"

"Xander does." Willow told her nervously. She felt bad that Buffy was the last to know.

"Which means the guys know." Buffy nodded. "Xander told Andrew about my community service."

Faith shrugged, to be honest, she would have done the same thing, she had a hard time keeping a secret. "When is that over?"

"It already is." Buffy told her with a small smile.

Willow turned to look at Buffy quickly before turning back towards the road. "What? I thought you weren't done until Monday."

Buffy shrugged. "I may have logged more hours than they thought I would so quickly. I mean, Jenny was including going to lunch with her as a community service hour because she didn't think I would be able to pull it off in a month. She said no one who has ever done community service at Awaken has done it in that amount of time before."

"You still going to church tomorrow?" Faith wondered, lightly tapping Buffy in the shoulder.

Buffy smiled. "Of course!"

Willow smiled at the blonde, it would be awesome if Buffy stuck around.

0o0o0

"Hey, Faith!" Oz smiled as the three girls walked into the Taco Bell. Xander looked up from where he was throwing away his trash, with a half-eaten burrito hanging out of his mouth. To say he found Faith attractive was an understatement. There were times when he would even give up some video game time to stay at Buffy's longer when Faith was there. That was something he hadn't done since he dated Anya Jenkins in high school.

"Angel, Faith." Buffy pointed from Angel to her friend.

Angel held his hand out to the brunette. "It's nice to meet you."

"Oh, I have seen you before, Stud Muffin." Faith smiled at him before shaking his hand. She laughed at the expression on his face. "The first night I was in the 'Dale, at the Espresso Pump."

Angel nodded, he remembered that night well.

"Yo, B." Faith called out, grabbing her friend by the arm and pulling her away from Angel. "Who's that?"

Buffy looked around. "Who's who?"

"That." Faith pointed towards the trash cans.

Buffy looked at Faith like she was crazy. "That's Xander… the guy that bought our tickets to the concert… you have seen him at my house a bunch of times."

"Really?" Faith asked, she didn't remember him being so cute before. "He's kinda cute."

Buffy nodded. "Really? It must be the fluorescent lights and the burrito hanging out of his mouth."

"Nah." Faith shook her head, tearing her eyes away from the dark-haired guy and looking back to her friend. "It's gotta be the taco grease stain on his shirt."

Angel threw the rest of his trash away before looking towards the rest of the group. "We should get going before we are late."

Everyone else agreed, they all made their way towards the door but Angel hung back, lightly grabbing Buffy by the arm. "Did she call me a muffin?"

Buffy smiled and shook her head. "A stud muffin. Can't forget the stud."

"And why is that?" Angel asked her.

"Because then it leaves off the studly part." She smiled up at him.

0o0o0

"Shit." Faith whistled. Who would have thought so many people would be at a Christian concert?

The other five looked at Faith. Buffy looked up at Angel, waiting for him to throw some scripture at her friend but it never came, so Buffy shrugged. If he wasn't going to say it, then she would. "Put all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy and filthy communications out of your mouth."

Faith raised her eyebrows. "Huh?"

"Colossians 3:8." Angel smiled at Buffy, it was the exact same verse that he had said to her when he walked in on her in the bathroom at his house.

Faith nodded. "Oh, that Bible stuff. Did we cover that one yet, B?"

Buffy nodded. "Every time you swear."

"Huh." Faith shrugged. "I guess I should remember it by now."

Angel smiled wider at Buffy. "You are helping her with the Bible?"

Buffy nodded with a shrug. "Yeah, I mean, it's not like I know everything but the stuff I have learned, I have been passing on to Faith."

"Good." Angel smiled and nodded. "I like that."

"And we are moving people!" Xander shouted at the line of people waiting to get into the large stadium. "I repeat, we are moving!"

Once they had gotten their tickets checked, they entered the large lobby, there were no longer lines and people were all over the place. Buffy looked around, she could see Xander, Willow and Faith walking together, Oz must have been in front of them but she couldn't really see him because he was shorter, and Angel was in front of her. A large group of people started walking towards them, Buffy was afraid she would get separated from the group, so she reached out quickly, grabbing Angel's hand. Angel looked down at her hand, then up at her face and smiled. They walked together, hand in hand until the crowd had thinned out where they were walking. "Sorry." She whispered, letting go of his hand. "Didn't want to get lost in the crowd."

Angel smiled at her before taking her hand in his again, her hand seemed to fit perfectly in his. "The crowd might come back."

0o0o0

Buffy and Angel were still holding hands as they walked up the stairs, she was sure he would have let go of her hand when she saw that the stairs up to their seats was only wide enough for one of them to go at a time. But instead, Angel wrapped his arm behind his body, holding her hand behind his back. Not that she minded. He finally let go of her hand when they made it to their seat. He stopped at the first seat, turned around and smiled at her. "Ladies first."

Buffy laughed. "I'm a lady?"

"of course." He smiled as she walked past him to her seat, sitting beside Oz. Oz had switched with Faith at her request so that she could be next to Xander.

Buffy raised her eyebrows at her long-time friend. It seemed like Faith was crushing on Xander pretty hard, it was nice to see. Xander was certainly better for Faith than Benny ever was.

Halfway through the concert, Angel watched Buffy as she stood, listening to the music, her eyes closed and her arms stretched up, he was convinced there was nothing in this world as beautiful.

She turned to him and smiled brightly as the next song began. "Oceans!" She exclaimed, happily. It had become one of her favorite songs since Angel had tried to teach it to her on the drums. She leaned against Angel's side, idly playing with his hand at their side, as she sang the lyrics she now had memorized.

Angel smiled down at her, he loved how comfortable she seemed to be around him and he mentally counted the days until she turned eighteen.

0o0o0

Buffy and Angel walked to her front door, with Willow walking in front of them. They had dropped Faith off at her apartment before leaving Los Angeles and returning to Sunnydale. Xander had voiced his concern about leaving Faith in that kind of neighborhood but she reminded him that she had grown up there and she was still alive to tell about it. Willow was going to spend the night at Buffy's house and the guys had decided to all crash at the Giles' house.

"Gosh, I am going to be so tired at church tomorrow." Buffy mumbled from beside Angel as they walked toward the steps. She knew it was close to two in the morning and because she was going to be doing the Media Team first thing in the morning she would need to wake up even earlier than she normally would.

Angel nodded. "It did last longer than we thought it would."

"But it was amazing!" Buffy beamed up at him as they walked on the sidewalk up to her door. "The feeling in the stadium alone, there were major things happening in there."

"Yeah, there was." Angel smiled.

Willow turned around at the door, smiling at the pair. "Don't be too long."

Buffy shook her head, it's not like they were on a date, he just walked them to the door because he was a gentleman. She did feel bad for leaving Oz and Xander in the van though, maybe they should have cracked a window. "I'm really happy that you came." Buffy smiled, lightly grabbing his pointer finger. She couldn't seem to stop touching his hands. They were nice hands. "Did you finish writing your sermon? I figured you would be too busy working on it."

Angel shook his head. "Almost, I have a little more to write and then I have to edit it. But, I have a confession to make." Angel shrugged. "I wasn't going to go tonight because of my homework, but then Xander said you were going."

"Yeah?" Buffy asked softly.

Angel nodded. "Yeah."

Buffy bit her lip and blushed a little. "Well, thank you… for coming. It was a lot better with you there." She stood up on her tip toes, and gently kissed his cheek before smiling softly, letting go of his finger and walking inside. "Good night."

"Good night." Angel whispered back, smiling before he headed back to the van where he was sure his two best friends had seen everything that had happened.

Hopping into the back of the van, he was met with his two best friends staring at him with their mouths open.

"Did she…" Xander started, then looked towards the house and back at his friend. "Did she just kiss you?"

"On the cheek." Angel answered.

Xander look from Oz to Angel this time. "First hand holding and now kissing?"

"I don't know what you are…" Angel tried to say but Oz cut him off.

"No, man." Oz shook his head. "I was sitting next to you during the concert, there was definite hand holding going on."

"Okay." Angel nodded. "So, there was." Then Angel smiled. "And did you see Buffy worshipping during the songs? That was so hot!"


	16. Eighteen Days

Classes start on Monday so I have exactly a week to finish this story because I don't want to keep you waiting until the end of the semester. Hopefully I can get it done!

Sassy.B93- Buffy's birthday is soon! Maybe I made Willow creepy. Haha I have been to California a few times but mostly just to go to Joss Whedon/Buffy comic conventions. It top secret so all I can say is... it has to do with a midget and a block of ice. Just kidding! It does have to do with television shows though. I love to travel too, unfortunately I have only traveled within America and Canada.

Ba2006- Yes! It's like crickets in the BA yahoo groups and one of them that I was in, is nothing but spam now.

Guest- Thank you! I hope you enjoy this chapter too!

Thank you for the follows and favorites! You guys are the best! I'm going to start working on chapter 17 right now!

Chapter 16: Eighteen Days

Buffy looked down at all the knobs and levers in the sound control booth, she knew how to do all of this, Andrew had showed her! She was just nervous. Although, if she did something wrong and screwed up the service, she was pretty sure Pastor Giles wouldn't be very happy. Thinking for a moment, Andrew would probably be more upset with her than Pastor Giles and she didn't want all that crazy raining down on her. She had never witnessed Andrew upset, but she had gotten to see Andrew many times when he was excited and he always took it to another level.

Looking over at the computer that was beside her, she remembered that she also had to make sure the song lyrics were showing correctly on the screen in the front of the sanctuary. "I got this." She whispered to herself. She flipped a lever to turn on Oz's microphone because she knew he was going to be going on stage soon. "Why did so many people have to call out?" She whispered to herself again, it was common that several people that normally served at the church took holidays off, but it wasn't a holiday, unless people were taking the day off for Star Wars day. She thought that's what Xander was calling May 4th, but Star Wars was the theme for the new Kids Ministry Series, so they should all be bringing the kids to see the awesome-ness that she and Jenny had put together for the kids!

Buffy was excited for May for another reason though, it was her birthday month! Normally her birthday always ended badly with Pike, Benny and Faith showing up and the red, white and blue lights of a police car as they were caught doing something they really shouldn't be doing. For a group of people that often broke the law, they weren't very good at getting away with it. This birthday was going to be different though, Pike and Benny weren't going to be anywhere near her for her birthday, but her mother was going to go pick up Faith for the weekend. She was happy that she could still hang out with Faith and not get in trouble, her brunette best friend still had the urge to go out though, like for Buffy's birthday, Faith wanted to go check out some place called The Bronze. She had yet to ever go there but from what she had heard from her friends, it was the only club in Sunnydale and teens, were allowed to go, too. Having Faith there for her birthday and going to a club was all very exciting but what she was really excited for was turning eighteen and FINALLY being able to pursue some sort of relationship with Angel, given that he asks her out. Oh, he better! If he didn't ask her out on a date by her birthday then she would just ask him. Eighteen days, he had eighteen days to ask her out, but she was getting impatient. Okay, correction, she had been impatient since first laying eyes on the man! Love at first sight was a legit thing, and she was living proof of that.

Buffy sat up straighter to focus when she saw Oz, Devon and a few of the other worship team members get on stage. "I got this." She whispered to herself again, as Andrew lowered the lights in the room to as he called it 'set the mood'.

0o0o0

"So…" Willow smiled at Buffy as soon the red head walked through the classroom door. Willow was normally always the first one to the classroom but except for that first Sunday that Buffy was there, the blonde always seemed to beat her there. It seems that even with Buffy serving on the Sound and Media Team, she still made it a priority to make it to the classroom before the children. It made the red-head happy that Buffy took it so seriously.

Buffy looked up from where she was organizing the lesson. She had made sure everything was done on Saturday but then she came in and it didn't look at neat. "So… what?"

"Your first day on Sound and Media!" Willow laughed. "How did it go?"

Buffy shrugged. "Well, I didn't end up screwing up to bad… I was a little slow on the lyrics but Andrew said that's completely normal especially since so many people on the team called out. I was nervous the WHOLE time though, I had this feeling in my stomach that I just couldn't shake."

Willow nodded. "It's not just Sound and Kids Min that is lacking today, I overheard Cordelia and Kevin talking…"

"Talking?" Buffy asked, raising her eyebrows. "You mean complaining?"

"Well, yeah." Willow laughed. It was very seldom that Cordelia wasn't complaining about something. "Anyway, they were saying that hardly anyone showed up for the VIP tent and absolutely no one showed up for Next Step."

"That's weird." Buffy crinkled up her face, there was definitely something going on this weekend. "I wonder if a lot of people went to OutCry last night and they are all just too exhausted to roll out of bed."

"We made it!" Willow exclaimed.

Buffy nodded. "Oz and Xander did too."

"What about Angel?" The red-head asked.

Buffy shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know, I didn't see him first service."

"You don't know?" Willow gave her friend a teasing smile. "After the hand holding, the kiss and the fact that you are hyperaware of everything that has to do with Angel. I'm convinced that you monitor his health, mood and blood pressure."

"I do not!" Buffy laughed, then returned her friends teasing smile. "But, if I did, it would be because I'm only concerned for the wellbeing of my future boyfriend."

Willow laughed. "You two both have it bad!"

"No." Buffy shook her head. "I don't see it as having anything bad, it's very, very good. The only bad thing is he's twenty-one and I'm still seventeen. Eighteen days, Willow! Eighteen days until I turn eighteen years old!" The blonde threw her hands in the air dramatically. "It's too long!"

Willow laughed even harder. "It's just because it's so close yet so far away."

"It is." The blonde agreed. "It really, really is."

"Oh! I just had a thought!" Willow's eyes got large as she turned looked at her blonde friend. "What about the people that get saved today? If no one is here from Next Step then who is going to help them?"

Buffy pouted as she turned around to open the cabinet behind her with snacks in it. "That sucks… but I'm sure like Pastor Giles or Pastor Ethan can help them, right?"

"I suppose." Willow shrugged, then took a deep breath. "So, Buffy… I kind of… asked Malcolm to go to prom with me."

Buffy spun around quickly to look at her friend. "What? When did you do that? I thought we agreed that we weren't going to go to prom this year… we were going to wait until senior prom."

"I know." Willow shrugged. "But that was before, when I didn't have anyone that would want to go with me."

"Oh." Buffy whispered. If Willow wanted to go to prom with Malcolm then she really couldn't tell her no, although, it wasn't that long ago that they both agreed to wait so that they could experience senior prom together and hopefully have boyfriends to go as their dates. Buffy had hoped those dates would have been Angel and Oz.

"Buffy, you have to go to prom!" Willow exclaimed. "I have never met Malcolm before and ever since I asked him this morning, I have been having this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach!"

Buffy raised her eyebrows at her friend, if she was feeling so horrible then maybe she should uninvite him… was that an okay thing to do? Uninvite someone to prom. "Willow, of course, I will go so you aren't alone with him, but maybe you should meet him before prom… in a well-lit, populated area." Buffy paused for a second. "Willow! Prom is like two weeks away or something! How are we going to get dresses and all that in two weeks?"

"Well, actually…" Willow bit her lip. "It's more like seven days away."

"WHAT?!" Buffy shouted. "That's even worse! There is NO WAY that I can get a prom dress and shoes and… and… everything that I need to get in just seven days!"

"I know! I know! I'm horrible!" Willow frowned. "I didn't really think it through when I asked him."

"I will go with you just because you don't really know this guy, but I can tell you right now, I'm going to look horrible and be going stag." Buffy warned her.

Willow nodded, she felt horrible for asking Buffy to do this because she knew how tight money was for her, but she really needed her best friend.

"You're lucky I love you." Buffy smiled at Willow.

0o0o0

Cordelia rolled her eyes and looked at her nails, that last VIP totaled chipped her nail polish when she was handing her the bag with the information about Awaken Church and the cup. She didn't know why but it still bugged her that Angel had given Buffy cookies on her first time at Awaken Church, it wasn't like she actually ate cookies, she just didn't want him to give them to Buffy. They didn't give any other VIP cookies, those cookies were homemade by Jenny Giles for the people that served on a team at the church. Cordelia perked up when she was Angel getting out of his black convertible, it was odd for Angel to be driving with the top up on a sunny day, like today. She was confused when he walked around the car to the passenger side and opened the door. She saw a blonde girl climb out but she couldn't see her face due to another new person stepping up to the tent to talk to her.

Cordelia didn't even know why she was volunteering at the VIP tent, she had originally started volunteering to get Angel's attention but she couldn't find where she would fit in the best. That was never a problem that she had before, she fit in with everyone! She was the most popular girl at Sunnydale High! But, here at Awaken Church, your statues in high school didn't matter. When she realized that Angel was on the Worship Team, that was her first attempt at joining a team, but when she had tried out for Angel and Oz, Oz told her, in the politest way possible that singing wasn't really her gift. Angel had just looked at her with a sympathetic look, he was far too nice to tell her she had no musical talent.

Next, she had gone to the Sound and Media Team, she knew Sound and Media spent a lot of time with the Worship team due to band rehearsals and sound checks but during her first Sunday in the sound booth she had accidently hit the wrong button and all the lyrics were deleted. Andrew was quick to get everything back up and running but then she spilt her coffee all over the sound board and it got fried. There was no way that Andrew could fit that and he told her that it just wasn't going to work out. Even Pastor Giles had approached her to let her know that Sound and Media possibly wasn't the right place for her and Kids Ministry might be a better fit, they always needed more teachers because most of the volunteers didn't want to do it every Sunday, other than Willow Rosenberg who Cordelia always saw as an overachieving loser. Cordelia didn't last long in Kids Ministry either, the younger kids had boogers, germs and needed help with the bathroom and the older kids were just brats.

She was running out of options, all she had left was Next Step, the Security Team, and Guest Services. She wouldn't know what to say to someone that had just been saved, she herself wasn't saved so Next Step was out, the Security Team just didn't sound like it would be for her. That left Guest Services, which is where she currently was. Angel helped with pretty much all the ministry teams at Awaken and she was happy to find out that Angel jumped in to help her when they were short-handed. But, Angel hadn't been there in a few weeks and it wasn't worth it to her if he wasn't there.

Cordelia rushed through the process with the woman who had stepped into her view, not even bothering to give the woman the tour of the campus. They were always supposed to check in any new children so that they had a name tag for the teachers to know their names and a security code so the child went with the right person at the end of the service, then they were to take the children to the classrooms and show the parents where the coffee, bathroom and sanctuary was. It all just felt like to much work when Angel was going to be walking past her any second. She needed to see if it was Buffy that was with Angel, she had heard they were spending a lot of time together. "Hey, Angel." Cordelia called out to him from under the tent.

Angel looked in the direction of his name being called, he smiled when he saw that it was Cordelia. He loved her enthusiasm to find her place among serving, he wished more members of the church were like that. He turned to the blonde who was also with a dark-haired girl, he spoke to them for a moment before turning in Cordelia's direction and making his way over to her. "Hey, Cordelia. How are you?"

"I'm fantastic!" She smiled brightly. "How are you?"

"Pretty great, actually." He smiled back. He couldn't deny that he was still on a high from the night before. The concert had been great but what really stuck out in his mind was Buffy, holding her hand, the way she worshipped and the fact that she had kissed him, even if it was just on the cheek. Life was good.

"What have you been up to?" Cordelia wondered, leaning over the table that held the Welcome Bags, so that she was closer to him. She liked to wear subtly sexy clothing to church, so that if she bent over just right, Angel could see her chest. If she wore anything obviously sexy then everyone would know that she wasn't actually at church for the right reasons. Luckily, no one she knew from church went to The Bronze and only a few teens from school went to church with her. Kevin Benedict had started going to Awaken Church shortly after Cordelia started because he liked her, he followed her around like a little puppy dog, even when she had been dating Mitch just a few weeks ago. Kevin did whatever Cordelia told him to do, so she knew he wouldn't tell anyone at church what she was normally like, Willow Rosenberg also went to school with her, but Cordelia and her friends had the red-head so scared of them, she hadn't said anything during the time that Cordelia had been attending church there. That only left Buffy Summers, and Cordelia could already see the blonde as a problem, in more than one way. She knew Buffy was interested in Angel too, and she wasn't scared of Cordelia. She was actually surprised that Buffy hadn't said anything already. When Buffy first started going to Awaken Church, she didn't even want Angel to know that the two girls knew each other. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah, school has gotten pretty intense." Angel nodded at the brunette. "But luckily, it's almost over."

"Wow!" Cordelia laughed. "You must be super busy! I don't know how you find the time to do it. I mean, school, working here and having time to go to concerts."

Angel let out a quiet laugh, he didn't know why she had mentioned concerts, he had only gone to one. "Were you at the OutCry Tour last night too?"

"Oh, no! I was sho…" Cordelia caught herself, she didn't want Angel to know she was shopping when almost everyone she knew that attended Awaken Church was at the Christian concert the night before. "I was praying."

Angel laughed. "Yeah, I was praying too, at the concert. I love to pray while worshipping, I can really feel God moving when I do."

"Totally." Cordelia laughed nervously. "Me too. But, um…" Cordelia trailed off, several other people that attended the concert from the church had told her that they saw Angel, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Oz and another girl that they didn't know at the concert together. "I heard that you were there with like, Buffy Summers, or something."

"Uh, yeah." Angel nodded, he found it weird that Cordelia was bring up the fact that he was with Buffy. "A group of us went together."

"Angel, I don't want to talk badly about Buffy, but…" Cordelia trailed odd, she felt the need to ruin any chance Buffy had with Angel before the blonde could ruin her chances with him. "It's like all over school that Buffy is only here at church because of community service. She got in a fight and I heard she did all this other illegal stuff… I'm only saying something because I wouldn't want you to get caught up in that. I care about you."

"I already know about all that, Cordelia." Angel said, he was taken back by everything Cordelia had just said, he didn't think Cordelia would be one to talk badly about another church member, or anyone for that matter. "Buffy told me about it weeks ago."

"She did?!" Cordelia was shocked, she didn't think Buffy would have told him and she certainly didn't think Angel would associate himself with that. He was the Pastors son and he was hanging out with a criminal!

Angel nodded. "Cordelia, I would love to catch up with you, but we should get inside before service starts."

"You aren't serving today?" Cordelia asked, gaining his attention again before he could walk away from the tent.

Angel shook his head. "Not this weekend, I'm just here for the service, why?"

"Well, like, every ministry is short-handed today." She informed him.

"Really?" He asked, looking behind Cordelia for the first time and noticing that only one person was in the tent with her. "My parents didn't mention anything about needing hands."

"Maybe because they knew how busy you have been with school." Cordelia guessed. "But, like, I have been serving here at the tent all day, I'm sweaty and gross because it's so hot out here."

Angel raised his eyebrows at the brunette, it was only the start of second service and everyone volunteering at the VIP tent went inside the building during the actual service.

"And, there has been like two people for Sound…" Cordelia continued. "It's just Gunn for security and no one showed up for Next Step. NO ONE!"

Angel looked at Cordelia, concerned, Next Step was a ministry team that he held close to his heart because it helped guide newly saved people in their walk. Next Step had been his idea that he had taken to his father when he was in high school. He voiced his concerned, and asked his father what happened afterwards to the people who gave their lives to Jesus. His father was impressed by the idea and wondered why he hadn't thought of it himself. "I'm going to go find my dad or mom to see what is going on. I will see you later, Cordelia."

Before Cordelia could say anything again, Angel walked away and back over to the blonde and brunette. This time Cordelia could see the blondes face when she turned around to look at Angel. Cordelia gasped. "Darla Penn!" She started to wonder what Darla's angle was, she knew Darla, and she was the biggest slut in Sunnydale. Cordelia glared as she watched Darla Penn and Drusilla Morrison walk into the church with Angel, there was no way those girls were going to church because they wanted to. She had a feeling it was for the same reason she did, she had met Angel when he volunteered as a chaperone for a school field trip and being the good evangelist that he was, Angel was spreading the word of God and had mentioned that he attended Awaken Church. It wasn't until later that she found out he was the Pastors son and it would be harder to get him to date her than she thought. Even though she had dated other guys from school, she never gave up on Angel.

0o0o0

Angel had quickly found a seat in the sanctuary for himself, Darla and Dru before excusing himself to search for his parents. He found that his father was busy with his usual meeting between services, he often met with Pastor Ethan to talk about the previous service, they always wanted to make the next service better than the last, so they talked about what could be improved in the next service and then they would pray about it. He went in search of his mom but he couldn't find her, which wasn't uncommon, she ran around the church like a mad woman every Sunday. He learned early on if he asked someone where she was, by the time he got to that location she was already gone. He had talked to a member of the Kids Ministry team and they told him that his mother, with the help of Buffy, was currently trying to move volunteers and children around so that they could have as many classrooms open as possible without going over the State of California's adult to child ratio laws. At that moment, he knew he would never find her and he gave up, going back to his seat in the sanctuary.

0o0o0

Buffy sighed as she slipped into the back of the sanctuary, she had helped Jenny get volunteers and children situated for the third and last service of the day before making her way into the sanctuary herself. She had told Jenny that she could jump into another classroom where a teacher was needed, because she officially knew all the lessons for each age group and she had technically already heard the service because she had been in the sanctuary during first service in the sound booth but Jenny wouldn't hear it. The older woman told her that it was important to sit and be able to take notes in the service and she wasn't able to do that while she was serving in the sound booth. Pastor Giles had already started the message when Buffy took her seat in the very back of the room, she didn't like getting to service late but today it couldn't be helped. She opened her Bible, that Angel had given her on her first Sunday, to the correct page before opening her notebook to a blank page. She smiled and let out a soft laugh at a joke Pastor Giles had made on stage.

Buffy got a feeling in the pit of her stomach, it was the same feeling she had during the first service when she had heard the message. That feeling had stayed with her during the second service while she was teaching the three, four and five-year old kids, it was so crazy and they were lacking so many volunteers that they had to combine three age groups that normally weren't together. It was a challenge but somehow, she and Willow had pulled it off and unfortunately, they had to go over the ratio in that class but Jenny had said she knew that Buffy and Willow could handle it. The feeling in her stomach was even stronger this time, and all through Pastor Giles message it was getting even stronger, to the point where she was slightly shaking at the end of the message.

0o0o0

Angel sat at his desk with Darla and Dru on the other side, he had taken them in his office to see what their takeaways were from the service. He had often given mini-services at the Bible study group that they had on the college campus and afterwards they always went over their most important takeaways from the message. It was always slow getting the information out of certain members in the group, Darla was one of them, Dru seemed to really enjoy the messages and informing Angel of her takeaways which is why he had paired the two girls together to be accountability partners. He felt that Darla could learn a lot from Dru Biblically and Dru could learn a lot from Darla when it came to coming out of her shell a little more. This time it was even harder to get Darla to open up about her takeaways, it was a lot like pulling teeth, which was why they were still sitting in his office.

"Oh, man! Angel!" Xander exclaimed quickly, as he walked past his friend's office, he backtracked slightly, leaning into his friend's office doorframe. "You are an answer to our prayers! We've got a salvation and no Next Step team members available!"

"What?" Angel stood up from his desk. "Excuse me, ladies." He turned to look at his best friend. "Please tell me there are at least Salvation Kits packed."

"No idea." Xander shrugged, briskly following his best friend to the Next Step office.

Angel looked around the office but he didn't see any kits that were put together. "Is there just one person?"

Xander shrugged. "I think so, but Andrew didn't say"

"As much as I would love to have more than one person saved right now…" Angel rushed around the office grabbing the items he would need. "I don't have time to pack more than one bag." He looked around. "Why aren't there any Bibles in here?"

Xander shrugged. "I will try to stall, your dad is still praying with them upfront right now… when they get sent back I will pray with them again… or something… just hurry, man."

Xander ran out the office door towards the sanctuary and Angel ran out the door in the opposite direction towards his father's office where he knew there were extra Bibles. Grabbing the Bible from the stack, he rushed back to the Next Step office and was organizing the kit the best he could under pressure when he thought he saw someone out of the corner of his eye in the door way. Glancing up, he offered a smile when he saw who it was. "Hey, Buffy! I'm sorry, I really don't have time right now, we have a salvation…" he paused when he noticed it looked like she had been crying, but she didn't look sad.

Angel noticed Xander behind Buffy in the doorway, as his best friend whispered. "Buffy is the salvation."

Angel let out a breath of relief and smiled, before making his way over to the small blonde and hugging her tightly. "Congratulations, Buffy!" He whispered, smiling brightly. "I'm so happy." He was happy for more than just the fact that she had accepted Jesus as her personal savior, it now made it so much easier for him to pursue a relationship with her due to his own personal preference that the girl must be saved.


	17. Roomies

I finished this chapter yesterday but I wanted to wait until this morning to edit it. I'm already halfway done with chapter 18!

Allison117- I normally like Cordelia but she is fun to make the "villain" and in this case, she does need to take a hike! Thank you for the review!

Chapter 17: Roomies

Xander slowly walked away as Buffy walked into the Next Step office, he couldn't be happier for his best friend and his new friend. Now that Buffy was saved, Angel was one step closer to being with her. Just eighteen more days to go.

Angel took Buffy by the hand, walking over to the couch in the office, he noticed that she was shaking. He was so happy that Buffy had been saved that he almost forgot what he needed to do next. "I know you prayed with my dad already… did Xander pray with you too?"

Buffy nodded. "it was really fast… and a little awkward."

Angel laughed. "That's how Xander prays in general… and speaks… and lives."

Buffy laughed and nodded. "That is true."

"Do you mind if I pray with you again?" Angel asked her.

"Of course." Buffy whispered. "Sorry, I'm shaking… it was…" She paused. "It was intense."

Angel smiled brightly at her. "That's how you know it's the right time… Is there… anything you would like to pray about? Anything at all."

Buffy took a deep breath. "My dad." She had been thinking about her dad a lot lately, wondering how he was, what he was doing and what he would think about the changes she had made in her life.

Angel nodded, taking both of her hands in his. "Repeat the first part after me… just like you did with my dad." Buffy nodded, closing her eyes and bowing her head with Angel. "Heavenly Father, I need you."

"Heavenly Father, I need you." Buffy whispered.

"Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins." Angel whispered, as Buffy repeated each part of it. "I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of my life, make me the person I was meant to be, the person You want me to be. Amen."

"Amen." Buffy whispered as a silent tear once again slipped down her check.

"Thank You, God for the life Buffy's earthly father chose to give to her." Angel continued. "We praise You, Heavenly Father that she is Your child and You call her Your daughter. We praise you for choosing to be her Father and always being there for her. We pray blessings upon her dad and that he will know your perfect Fatherly love and in return, show his earthly daughter a reflection of that love. I pray that he will see what a wonder and beautiful person Buffy is on the inside and out, and that he will know that she deserves to feel the love, protection and care from her earthly father that she receives from her Heavenly Father. I pray that her own future children also feel the same love, protection and care from their earthly father. In your name, Amen."

Buffy opened her eyes, and it was in the moment she locked eyes with his beautiful brown eyes that she knew, the earthly father of her future children, that he had just prayed for, would be him.

He lifted his hand, gently wiping away her tears. "Are you okay? How do you feel?"

Buffy nodded, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, of course. I just feel… overwhelmed, free… like all this weight is no longer on my shoulders and not to sound cheesy but… awake."

Angel laughed.

"When I first came here, I didn't get it… the name of the church." She told him. "Awaken… who would name a church Awaken… but I get it now. Awakening people far from Christ to new life in Christ."

Angel couldn't help but pull her close to him for another hug. He couldn't describe what he was feeling, how happy he was for her, for once in his life, he was at a loss for words. When he pulled back, he got the urge, like he had several times since meeting her, to kiss her. He had been holding himself back at the request of his mother because she wasn't eighteen yet, but right now, looking at her the urge was almost too great. He slowly got up from the couch, grabbing the Salvation Kit from the desk and walking back over to her. Sitting down, he pulled a card out. "Can you fill this out? Just so that we have the information we need to make sure you are getting the support that you need in your walk… formalities really because I will be right here with you every step of the way, with anything at all that you need."

Buffy silently nodded, taking the card from him, and picked up a pen that was on the end table beside the couch. "Thank you."

Angel picked up the Bible from the kit he had just put together. "Do you really want the Bible? I know you already have one…"

"Yeah." Buffy whispered, looking up at him from the card she was filling out. "I can give it to Faith."

Angel smiled and nodded. He loved that she was spreading the Gospel, she had only just begun her walk in her faith and she was already practicing evangelism. She truly amazed him in so many ways. "Your life is going to be so much better now that you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, but it also means that your life is going to be harder. Everyone seems to think that Christians have their lives together but that's not true, and you will slip up, we all do, we are human. We just have to strive every day to be the person that God calls us to be, to turn away from sin, see the best in everyone, and…"

"Say not today, Satan." Buffy smiled. "I know. I'm ready."

0o0o0

Angel laughed at Xander's expression when the waitress asked him if he wanted fries or mashed potatoes, and he simply replied. "Both." Angel looked up when he saw that Buffy and Willow were returning to the table from the bathroom just in time to order. It reminded him of the time Buffy and his mother had gone to the bathroom the day they told Buffy that she would know when she was saved, now here they all were celebrating together because Buffy had been saved. It was his father's idea to celebrate, he had informed his father that he had Darla and Drusilla with him because he had driven them to church that morning. His father said to bring them along. Now he sat at his parent's favorite restaurant, where they had their first date, with his parents, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Darla, Drusilla, Oz, and Gunn. Angel smiled when Buffy took her seat beside him, and when she scooted in, she moved the chair even closer to him. He didn't know if it was on accident or on purpose, but either way, he liked it when she was close to him.

"So, Buffy, what was it like for you?" Jenny smiled, when the waitress had finished taking their order. "Being saved is different for everyone, how did you know?"

"Well…" Buffy smiled back. "It started out this small feeling in the pit of my stomach during first service, and it started getting stronger, but I just thought it was my nerves, I was so scared that I was going to screw up and ruin the whole service."

"That's ridiculous, Buffy." Pastor Giles smiled. "There is no way you could do that."

Xander nodded. "Yeah, only Cordelia pulled that one off."

"Xander." Pastor Giles scolded him, and Xander picked up his glass of water to shut up. Pastor Giles turned back to Buffy. "Go on…"

"Well, I'm pretty sure that Andrew would have killed me for leaving my post so I didn't go up for alter call then…" Buffy said with a small laugh.

"Why would Andrew care?" Angel asked.

"Oh, you don't know…" Oz looked around the table, he thought everyone knew. "Buffy joined the Sound and Media team. So, to answer our question, yes, Buffy will be sticking around."

Angel smiled at Buffy, he loved to hear that.

"Everyone keeps interrupting, Buffy." Jenny turned back to Buffy for her to continue.

Buffy shrugged, it was kind of weird for her to be the center of attention at such a large gathering of adults. She had just gotten used to being the center of attention in a room full of kids, not to mention there were two people at the table that she didn't know, she just knew that their names were Darla and Dru and they went to school with Angel. "The feeling didn't go away during second service, so it couldn't have just been nerves, and by the time I went to third service, the feeling was so intense that I was shaking and I just… I just started crying out of nowhere, I wasn't sad or upset about anything, the tears just started flowing… and I knew."

"Yes." Pastor Giles nodded with a smile. "I noticed that you were shaking when you came up to the stage, I could tell, Buffy, and not just today, the Holy Spirit is strong in you."

"Hey! Just like the force." Xander smiled. "And it's Star Wars Day!"

Buffy laughed. "Thanks, Xand."

Darla eyed how close Buffy and Angel were sitting, she didn't like. She thought for sure that she was close to getting Angel to take a more personal interest in her but it was hard because he always made sure that Drusilla or someone else was with them, the only time she really got alone time with him was when Dru went to the bathroom or went to grab something that she forgot, but it was taking longer to get Angel to be interested than any other guy she set her sights on. "You know, I think I remember you now." Darla smiled sweetly, pointing at Buffy. "You were there that night when the guy tried to hit Angel."

Buffy bit her lip, she looked from Darla to Angel, she had hoped since talking about that night with Angel that no one would bring up the Pike incident again. She wasn't that lucky.

"What?" Jenny asked concerned for her son.

Buffy was about to speak when Angel jumped it. "it was nothing, mom, a misunderstanding."

"How big of a misunderstanding could it have been?" Pastor Giles asked. "And why would someone want to hit you?"

Buffy took a deep breath, during one of the long talks she had with Giles, he had told her that it was best to talk about your short comings in order to move on, Pike just happened to be one of hers. "An old friend of mine came to town, an old… boyfriend." She struggled to get out. "I was hanging out with my best friend from Los Angeles and he and his best friends were, well, doing what they always did. The guys had been drinking before they even got to town and for some reason he thought Angel was… looking at me. He has a hard time letting go and he got upset."

Giles raised his eyebrows at his son and the young blonde, he knew about Buffy's past, she had opened up about it to him, but he didn't think she had contact with anyone from her past except for Faith.

"Didn't you say that you were going to punch the guy out?" Darla asked, her voice was overly sweet, it didn't sound natural.

Buffy nodded hesitantly. "Yeah." She nodded again, quickly. "If he didn't back off."

This time, Oz raised his eyebrows at Buffy. "Would you have really hit him?"

Buffy shrugged. "it depends if he had hit Angel or not."

"Woah!" Xander mumbled. He and Oz had heard Angel's version of what happened but all three of the guys were convinced that Buffy wouldn't have actually hit her ex-boyfriend.

"Goodness!" Drusilla exclaimed with her thick British accent. "I always miss the good stuff!" Now she regretted drinking so much Passion Fruit Tea, she had missed all the action while she was in the bathroom at the Espresso Pump. Darla had filled her in on every detail though.

"What did happen?" Gunn finally spoke up. He and Willow had been silent the whole time, not wanting to cause Buffy to get upset but the curiosity was really getting to him.

"I just told him off." Buffy shrugged. "I haven't heard from him since."

Willow nodded in agreement. "Buffy's friend Faith was actually dating his best friend and she hadn't heard from her boyfriend either."

Buffy turned to her red-headed best friend sitting across from her at the table. "I don't think they are dating anymore… I mean, this long and no contact…?"

"Right!" Willow exclaimed. "Faith seems perfectly fine with it."

Buffy nodded. "She hasn't gotten in trouble since, so I think it's a good thing."

Willow smiled in agreement. "Plus, you have been working with her on 'that Bible thing', I think that has something to do with it."

Pastor Giles and his wife shared a smile, Buffy hadn't been a bad kid from the start but they were happy to see how far she had come in such a short amount of time.

Angel turned to look at Buffy with a smile, and she returned that smile as he gently took her hand in his underneath the table.

0o0o0

Buffy walked into her house with a smile on her face, she saw her mother walking up the stairs that lead to the second floor. "Hey, mom! What's up?"

Joyce tried to look out the window by the front door from where she was standing on the stairs. "Was that Willow? She should have come in."

Buffy shook her head. "No, that was actually Angel. He said to let you know they will be coming over a little earlier tomorrow to work on the basement." It was slightly awkward riding in a car with Darla and Drusilla, because she could tell that Darla liked Angel. She really couldn't blame Darla, Cordelia or any other girl that liked Angel, she saw and felt the appeal of the younger Giles' man. Although, the awkwardness was worth it to spend a little extra time with Angel, and the look on Darla's face when Angel told Buffy to take the passenger seat was priceless!

"Angel still has the house key, right?" Joyce asked her daughter, earning a nod. "It's perfectly fine, it's extremely nice of them to be doing it for free. But anyway…" Joyce nodded her head to tell her daughter to follow her up the stairs. "So, I got a call from Social Services today, right after you and Willow left this morning, which was odd considering it's a Sunday."

"Social Services?" Buffy asked her mother, confused. "I don't get it."

"Maybe this will explain it." Joyce opened Buffy's bedroom door to reveal her daughters best friend pulling clothes out of an old beat up looking duffle bag.

"Hey roomie." Faith smirked.

Buffy looked from her best friend to her mom. "Okay, I get it even less."

"Well, B." Faith started. "Turns out, my mom wasn't just on one of her bingers at some guys house. She abandoned me. Some mom, I got there, huh? I guess my mom was at some bar, drunk out of her mind and she spilled her guts to some good samaritan that she left her sixteen-year old daughter to fend for herself. I don't even know how long she had actually been gone since I was here, but she wasn't there when your mom dropped me off. This dude, like, pick pockets my mom to get her ID and turned it in to Social Services. I get dragged out of bed at the ass crack of dawn…" Faith paused for a second. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, filth leaving my mouth or whatever. Anyway, they asked me if there was anyone they could contact to take me in, the only person I could think of was your mom."

"So…." Joyce started. "I am going to be Faith's temporary guardian until they track down a family member suitable to take her or she turns eighteen."

"It's gonna be eighteen." Faith pointed out. "I don't even think I have family members that haven't drank themselves into an early grave or are so drugged up that they don't know which way is down when they are fallin'."

Buffy bit her lip, trying to hold back a smile. Yeah, it sucked that her mom went and bailed on her but now she was going to have one of her best friends living with her!

"But, according to the social worker…." Joyce gave Faith a pointed look. "… and me, Faith needs to stay out of trouble and get back into school. The social worker was very clear that if those two things don't happen then Faith will be put in a group home."

"Then it really would be a hard knock life for me." Faith threw the shirt in her hand at Buffy. "Think I would be Annie or that butch kid that makes the rest of 'em cry?"

"Butch." Buffy nodded, catching the shirt. "Definitely."

"Your mom said I'm probably going to have to take some test to see where I should be placed in school since I dropped out when I was in kindergarten." Faith rolled her eyes.

Buffy rolled her eyes and laughed at Faith exaggeration. Buffy was only in Ninth grade when she had met Faith and Faith should have been in Eighth grade but she had already dropped out of school and no one seemed to care, or they just didn't notice. Buffy wasn't sure which one. "When will the test be?"

Faith shrugged and looked towards Joyce for an answer. "I will call the school tomorrow to see when the test can be set up."

"Watch, one look at who you are associated with…" Buffy pointed to herself. "Snyder will either say no way or throw community service at you first thing."

"It's against the law for him to refuse a minor an education, I will be sure to let him know that." Joyce frowned, she didn't like that Principal very much but in life you have to deal with people you don't like. "And Sweetie, you haven't been in trouble since you started your community service at the church."

"I know!" Buffy exclaimed. "but he still watched my every move!" Buffy turned to her best friend. "Luckily for you, I know the smartest person ever and they will be more than happy to teach you everything you need to know for that placement test."

"Oh yeah?" Faith crossed her arms. "And who is that?"

Buffy smiled brightly. "Willow."

Joyce smiled at the girls. "If you don't mind, Faith could sleep in here with you until we get the extra room cleared out and a bed."

"Of course not!" Buffy smiled, excitedly and reached out for Faith. "Come on, Pepper, let's get you unpacked!"

0o0o0

"Wait, are you serious about this?" Faith asked Buffy later that night as she watched Buffy work on her homework for the next day.

Buffy nodded. "I'm going to have to, I mean, mom can't afford to buy me a prom dress and I'm going to need a car when I can get my license back."

"But a job, B?" Faith asked. "Who is going to hire you?"

Buffy shrugged. "I heard the DoubleMeat Palace was hiring… Plus, I'm a minor… and my dad had my records sealed so no one can see it. Anything to cover his own tail."

"Yeah." Faith rolled her eyes, once upon a time, Faith had wanted to know her real dad, then she met Buffy's dad and realized what a piece of work he was, she considered herself lucky that she didn't know what her real dad was like. "Are they sealed for good or just until you aren't a minor anymore? If you haven't noticed, you are going to be eighteen soon."

"Eighteen days." She confirmed. "Believe me, I know how long it is… I'm counting the days until I can officially go on a date with Angel."

Faith smiled and leaned back on the bed frame next to Buffy. "How's that going?"

"Well…" Buffy smiled brightly. "There was the hand holding at the concert and then when the guys dropped us off, he walked me to the door and I gave him a kiss… on the cheek! Just because I don't know what his feelings are on that. His parents told me that they didn't even kiss until they were married and then there is the whole me still being seventeen, I just wanted to play it safe."

"Play-It-Safe-Buffy…." Faith pretended to think playfully. "I don't think I have met her before."

"Ha-ha." Buffy rolled her eyes. "Oh! And then today I got saved at church! It was awesome! Angel prayed for me and then we went out to lunch with his family and our friends… and a few of his friends." Buffy shook her head at the thought of Darla, Drusilla didn't seem that bad. "… while we were at lunch, there was some hand holding under the table. Then he drove my home but he had two of these girls that he goes to school with, with him… it was a little weird having them at lunch with us because I don't even know them BUT I'm totally sure that one of them, Darla, wants to go out with Angel but she was NOT happy when Angel told me to sit up front with him."

Faith let out a loud laugh as her best friends long winded explanation. "life isn't going to be boring here in the 'Dale, is it, B?"

Buffy shook her head. "No, it's really not. Plus, you will get to be around Xander!"

Faith smiled at that thought, the good certainly outweighed the bad when it came to her mom splitting on her.

"You should totally come to church with me next Sunday." Buffy smiled, it would be great if she could get Faith to go with her, she was also hoping that her mom would go with her at some point.

Faith shrugged. "Maybe."

0o0o0

Buffy looked down the hall of the large building, she had never been here before, like many places in Sunnydale, and she was sure she was going to get lost. She took a deep breath before she continued down the hallway, she thought she smelt something gross, so she brought her shirt up to her nose to sniff it. She had just gotten out of her interview at The DoubleMeat Palace, it wasn't supposed to be an interview. She had gone in and asked for an application, the manager met with her right then and after five minutes he told her that she had the job! The manager didn't say it, but she was sure that they were desperate to hire people. She had gotten a tour of the fast food restaurant and filled out some papers. She was sure as soon as she stepped into the back area the smell of grease and grime had absorbed into the pours of her skin. She had to go back in the next day to start her training.

"Hey…." A male voice called to her from behind. He smiled as Buffy turned around to look at him. "You look a little lost. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Um…" Buffy looked around, briefly looking at the blonde young man. "I'm looking for Stevenson Hall…."

The boy smiled wider. "Wrong building, I could show you if you would like."

Buffy pouted, the bus driver that had dropped her off at the Sunnydale University Campus had told her that this was Stevenson Hall.

"I'm Riley, by the way." He brushed his hair out of his face before reaching out to shake her hand.

Buffy took the hand he offered. "I'm Buffy."

Riley nodded. "Cool name. Come on."

Buffy looked around the campus as they walked to Stevenson Hall, the campus was huge and she hadn't even seen very much of it. She never would have thought that Sunnydale would have something like this to offer, it was beautiful, she needed to start looking into school to get her Master's Degree at, maybe Sunnydale University wasn't a bad place to start.

"So, what's at Stevenson Hall?" Riley asked.

"A friend." Buffy said with a small smile.

"You know, I have a lot of friends in Stevenson Hall." Riley smiled. "Maybe we have a mutual friend."

"Maybe." Buffy commented, still looking around the campus. There were so many students walking around and they all looked like they were really enjoying themselves. Maybe college was a lot different than high school because most of the time she had to pretend to was enjoying herself or Willow would get offended.

Riley stretched his neck to try to get Buffy's attention back on him. "What's your friends name?"

Shaking her head, Buffy looked back to him. "Angel Giles."

"Oh! Yeah!" Riled smiled with a nod. "I know Angel! But…. You know, he doesn't allow girls in his dorm room."

"Huh?" Buffy asked, giving Riley her full attention.

"Angel…" Riley started. "He has a strict rule about no girls in his dorm room, going there won't get you anywhere, unless you want to stand out in the hall awkwardly to have a conversation with him."

Buffy smiled. "The conversation I'm going to have with him is already going to be awkward, so it doesn't really matter."

Riley gave the blonde a confused look. "Well, considering all his rules about not being alone with girls and dating, I'm sure you aren't about to tell him that he got you pregnant."

"What?" Buffy asked, confused as she followed him into a building and they started to walk up the stairs. "No! Definitely not!"

"Well, here you are." He pointed to a door with a musical note, a cross and a dry erase board for notes on it. The dry erase board currently said "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13". It certainly did scream Angel already.

"Thanks." Buffy offered him a smile, thinking he would turn around and leave but instead he stood there, watching her. She turned back around towards the door and knocked, she really hoped that he was there. According to Jenny, he should be, unless he had plans that she didn't know about.

After a moment, the door swung open and Angel smiled when he saw her. "Buffy, hey. What are you doing here?"

Buffy shrugged. "I just wanted to talk to you."

Angel laughed, opening the door a little wider. "Come on in."

Riley raised his eyebrows, he was shocked that Angel Giles was letting a girl in his room. He had known the soon to be Pastor for four years and he had never let a female that wasn't his mother in his dorm.

Buffy looked around the dorm room as Angel shut the door behind them. She loved the crosses that were spaced out on each wall, and the wall decals, some of the decals were Biblical and some were musical related. The whole room was inviting but the left side of the room gave off a very Angel vibe to her, she smiled when she saw a picture of Angel with his parents hanging on the wall by his bed. She smiled even bigger when she saw that there was a picture of her, Angel and their friends at the Sunnydale Zoo in a picture frame on the night stand next to an alarm clock. There was another picture of Angel and Oz on the other side of the night stand. Buffy spun around to look at him. "Do you room with Oz?"

Angel smiled and nodded. "Yeah, we requested that we room together…. We already know each other's weird quirks and we can still focus on our school work even when the other one is doing something distracting. We have just known each other for so long, it works."

Buffy smiled at him and whispered. "Angel, I highly doubt you have any weird quirks."

"No." He disagreed. "I do. I… I repeat things three times just so I can remember them…"

"That's because when things are said in threes it means they hold an importance." She told him still smiling. "'Do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases' is mentioned three times in Song of Solomon to show the importance of being patient in our relationships because love is like a flower blooming, if you try to force it physically then it will cause damage or even destroy it."

Angel looked at Buffy, surprised that she had made that connection, and it made her even more attractive to him. "I, um… I'm obsessed with Christmas. My friends say my room looks like Santa Clause puked Christmas all over the place."

"Jesus is the reason for the season." She shrugged.

Angel gave her a small smile at her response, she was pretty perfect. "Oz says I snore… not a loud snore like Xander but a small snore, some people find that annoying."

Buffy smiled and bit her lip. "I think that's cute."

Angel smiled as he shook his head, then he remembered that she had wanted to talk about something. "Um, what was it that you wanted to talk about?"

"Oh, right…" Buffy whispered, she didn't know exactly how to say it. "Well… um… I know that you don't date, or you just can't date me, but… I was wondering, if you would go to prom… with me…" She trailed off before raising her voice slightly. "As friends! Because you know, of the no dating thing…"

Angel gave her a small smile. "Don't you want to go with someone at your school?"

"Oh, right!" Buffy nodded, as if she didn't even hear what he said. "You're busy… you are probably busy. Definitely busy, it's like finals for you and… stuff." She was so sure about asking him when she had first thought of it and on the whole bus ride here, but now that she was actually in front of him and saying the words, she had turned into a babbling idiot. She was normally so comfortable around Angel, why was this any different? "Okay… well, I'm just going to…" She pointed at the door before walking past him to leave.

Angel gently grabbed her arm as she passed him. "Aren't you cutting it kind of close, asking me now?"

"What?" Buffy turned to him, stunned.

"As far as I am aware, prom is in six days." He whispered.

"Oh, that." Buffy nodded. "I didn't even know I was going to go until yesterday when Willow informed me that she was going with Malcolm, you know, the guy she met on the internet… we had made a pact that we wouldn't go to prom until next year but then she met this guy and everything just… poof."

"Poof, huh?" He smiled, receiving a nod from the blonde. "Am I the only person you thought of to go to prom with?"

"Well…." Buffy nodded. "Yeah."

"Yeah, Buffy. I will go to prom with you." Angel let out a small chuckle, he couldn't help but tease her, she seemed like she really wanted to make sure it was clear that it was strictly friends. "As friends."


	18. Pre-Prom Prep

Chapter 18: Pre-Prom Prep

Buffy cringed as she watched Timothy, who was training her, he was showing her how to make a Meat Medley, it was disgusting. She much rather be at the church right now, but instead she had to come here right after school to start her first shift at The DoubleMeat Palace. She had only been there an hour and she had already repeated to herself over and over again that this was for Willow, she needed the money to get a prom dress so that Willow won't be alone with Malcolm at the dance. Buffy didn't agree with Willow even meeting him, but she couldn't tell her best friend that, she was trying to be supportive. Not to mention that she was going to need a car soon, Xander had told her that his Uncle Rory could get her a "not new but still almost as equally shiny" car for a couple thousand dollars. First, her prom dress though, she didn't know exactly how much a prom dress would cost but didn't want to spend too much on a dress for her junior prom. She was thankful that The DoubleMeat Palace paid weekly and her first paycheck could go towards her prom dress and the tickets for her and Angel, and hopefully she would have a little left over. Then she could start saving for a car.

Her mother was completely against Buffy getting a job, she wanted Buffy to focus on her schooling and getting good grades. However, Buffy brought up the valid points that she is going to need a car and it would be better if she could just buy one herself, she could help with bills around the house and now they had an extra person living with them. Faith had offered to get a job, even though she seemed to have a horrible time keeping any job but she wanted to help Mrs. Summers. The two Summers woman were the only two people that never turned their backs on her or gave up on her, she wanted to say thank you for that and for allowing her to stay with them. Joyce had flat out refused to allow Faith to work, they didn't even know where Faith stood with her schooling but Buffy had been able to get back to her average B grades that she used to have before she started getting into trouble. She wasn't completely sure who or what was responsible for the complete turnaround in her daughter's life but she thought it might have something to do with that church she had been doing community service at. She was thankful though.

Buffy pulled herself out of her trance like state when she heard the voice of Timothy. "Interesting, isn't it?"

Buffy nodded, offering him a fake smile. "Oh, yes! Like, how the cow and the chicken come together, even though they've never met. It's like Sleepless in Seattle." She turned back towards the meat on the grill. "If Meg and Tom were like, minced."

Buffy smiled at the manager, as he walked up to them. "Hi! I'm Manny, the manager. It's not a joke, it's just my name."

"Right." Buffy nodded, nervously. She didn't know what it was about these people that gave her the wiggins. "Y…you mentioned that a couple times when I filled out the application."

"Why do you want to work here, Buffy?" Manny, the manager, asked her seriously. "You seem like a sharp young woman and there are a lot of other jobs."

"Well, I… I kind of need money pretty quickly, like today and so I didn't want to go through the lengthy interview process of other places, I just figured this was the fastest… way…" Buffy trailed off when she saw the blank look on Manny's face. "Be...cause… I wanted to be part of the Doublemeat experience?"

Manny nodded and smiled. "Great! Well, you have already met Timothy and that…" He pointed at an creepy looking dark-haired man making fries in old looking grease. "That's Philip. This is Buffy!" Manny called so that Philip could hear him. "She's going to be working the counter."

"What happened to the other one?" Philip asked. "Catherine was her name."

"Emily?" Manny corrected.

Philip nodded. "Yeah, that one!"

"She's gone." Timothy said, pressing the metal spatula down on a beef patty.

Buffy looked between the three men. "What happened?"

"Whatever always happens." Timothy shrugged.

Manny pointed to Philip and Timothy. "Watch these two."

"Why?" Buffy asked, confused. "Are they going to do something?"

"They are solids, follow their example and you won't go wrong. They are lifers, Buffy." The manager said proudly. "In it for life. Like me. You want to get something out of this, do the same, and in ten years, you could be where I am." He nodded towards his name tag on his shirt that had '10 Years' written on it. "I promise you."

"Oh, um… Manny…" Buffy called out before the manager could go back into his office. "That locker that you told me to use… it kind of has someone else's stuff in it."

"They must have left it." Manny replied, flatly. "You can toss it, or use it."

Buffy raised her eyebrows at her new boss. "Are you sure they aren't going to come back for it?"

Manny shrugged. "We have a lot of turnover here."

"Buffy." Philip called over to her. "Come here. Someone just ordered a Meat Medley."

"Oh!" Buffy exclaimed, but didn't look excited at all. "I know the Meat Medley, it was in the video I had to watch…." Buffy crinkled up her nose in disgust. "It was really graphic with the slaughtering."

"The classic double decker, but with a twist." Philip nodded. "A pure beef patty above the mid bun…" He said as he assembled the burger. "Then a slice of chicken product below the mid bun, throw in some pickles and the secret ingredient." He held it out to Buffy. "Eat it."

Buffy shook her head. "I had a big breakfast… and didn't someone just order that?"

"Oh, right!" Philip nodded, and began to wrap it perfectly in the orange paper. "Next one is yours!"

"Oh, joy!" Buffy said with large eyes, then whispered to herself. "I have got to tell Xander to stop eating here." Buffy looked over at the guy that had introduced himself as Gary, he was a little older than she was and he seemed like the most normal person that worked there. "So, what's up with Manny the Manager? Do you think If I asked really nicely that I could write a children's book called that?"

Gary grabbed a cup from a stack and handed them to Buffy. "Here. Fill this, while I go get some fries."

"Fill this?" Buffy looked down at the cup in her hand. "I didn't know there was gonna be drug testing in this job."

Gary laughed. "Your funny." Then he turned serious. "Stop that."

Buffy walked over to the soda dispenser to fill the cup. "Why?"

"Productivity." Gary told her quietly, as he poured some fries into a paper bag. "One of Manny's watch words. He says levity is the time-thief that picks the pocket of the company."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "I prefer the one that goes, Manny's a humorless dolt who picks the pocket of he-should-bite-me."

Gary sighed, putting everything into a larger bag for the person waiting at the drive-thru. "You really should stop that."

"You're right." Buffy nodded with a sigh, as Gary handed the customer their food. "I was just saved a couple days ago, Angel said it would be hard."

"Who's Angel?" Gary asked. "Your girlfriend?"

"What?!" Buffy exclaimed, how could anyone thing Angel was a girl? Okay, so Angel was a kind of girly name but he was definitely all man! "Angel is a guy."

"Oh." Gary nodded. "So, your boyfriend."

"I wish!" Buffy smiled. "Hopefully soon."

Gary nodded, he was surprised that someone that looked like Buffy wasn't already in a relationship, she was attractive, even while wearing the giant cow hat. "So, what's the whole saved thing you mentioned?"

Buffy perked up, finally something she was passionate about. "I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior."

"Ah." Gary nodded with a tight smile. "You are one of those church people."

"Yeah." Buffy nodded with a smile. "I am. You know, you should check out my church… it's called Awaken Church, it's right off Maple."

Gary shrugged as he went to start another order.

0o0o0

Buffy sat on the floor in the two-year old room, sanitizing toys, she felt bad that she didn't come in on Monday to help clean up from Sunday but it ended up taking too long at The DoubleMeat Palace when Manny had wanted to instantly jump into the short interview and then she thought she would have time to stop by the church after she went to talk to Angel at his dorm but the public bus had taken too long. She got a waft of the disgusting smell of The DoubleMeat Palace, once again, she sniffed herself, when she had gotten home last night she had scrubbed herself clean in the shower for so long that if Faith hadn't knocked on the door asking what was taking so long, she wouldn't have had any skin cells left. And then after all that scrubbing she had to go back there tonight. She was closing the restaurant again tonight with Gary. She found out that he often closed because he also tutored some of the local high schoolers to make some extra cash and then went to The DoubleMeat Palace to work the night shift. Which, was the same thing she was doing, only without the tutoring. The day before she had gone straight from school to work because Manny had wanted to get her trained as soon as possible and then jump right into her shift. Tonight, she had a couple of hours between school and work, so she and Willow had stayed in the library at school to rush through her homework and Willow dropped her off at the church before going to Buffy's house to help Faith learn everything she needed to for her placement test.

Buffy rolled her eyes at the thought, to her, it was pointless for Faith to start school now, they only had a couple weeks left! But, her mother and the social worker had insisted that Faith needed to be enrolled as soon as possible. Her mother had somehow met with Principal Snyder and got a placement test for Faith scheduled for the following Monday, and she was now officially enrolled at Sunnydale High even though she wasn't starting yet. Willow was hard at work going over everything that Faith would need to know, Faith was hating every second of it! Willow, however, was loving it. Faith was convinced that the only upside to this was that she could go to prom with Buffy and Willow, she was really curious to finally see this Malcolm guy. Faith had gone to school the day before just to buy prom tickets and she was informed by Harmoney Kendell, one of Cordelia's little robot friends, that Faith couldn't buy a ticket to prom because she would technically be a Sophomore and wasn't allowed to go.

"Hey, you." Buffy looked up when she heard the voice that she loved, to see Angel leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed and a smile on his face. "Did you know that you are a tough woman to track down? I was even at your house last night, working on the basement, Faith and Willow were there but you weren't. Then today, I went to the school, thinking I could give you a ride home only to see that you didn't leave the building when all the other students ran for their lives. I have a really important question to ask you and you are nowhere to be found."

Buffy's breath hitched in her throat, was he about to ask her out? There was now fifteen days until her birthday, he should ask her out now so that she has something to look forward to, because The DoubleMeat Palace was sucking the life out of her and it had only been one day! "What is it?"

Angel looked down at the floor, then back over at where Buffy was sitting on the floor with plastic toys scattered all around her. The vision of her sitting on the floor with toys all around her made him think of the possibility of having children with her, and coming home to this very image. He knew it was too soon to be thinking about those things, he hadn't even asked her out on a date yet, but wanting that future with Buffy seemed to come so easily for him. It was something that he had never thought about before. He smiled at the possible future. "What color is your dress?"

"Oh." Buffy pouted, slightly disappointed. "Why?"

Angel shrugged. "I need to know what color corsage to get you, and did you want to match my vest to your dress?"

"Matching…" Buffy trailed off, she had completely forgot about the mega lego block in her hand. Matching sounded very couple-y. "I haven't really thought about it… um, you don't have to do that. Any of it."

"If we are going to do it…" He gave her a teasing smile. "We should do it right."

"I just…" Buffy shook her head. "I don't even know what color my dress is going to be. I haven't had a chance to go look."

"Buffy, prom is four days away." He reminded her.

"I know, I know." Buffy took a deep breath. "I just haven't had the time." Once again, she had to remind herself that she had to have this job so that she can go to prom to begin with.

"Well, let me know soon." He smiled at her, he pulled something out of his jacket pocket. "I picked these up when I couldn't find you at the school."

Buffy tried to look closely as what was in his hand but she still couldn't see what exactly it was, she put the lego block down, getting up from the floor she walked closer to Angel as he held it up for her to see. He had bought their prom tickets. "Angel, you didn't have to do that! I was going to."

Angel shrugged. "Like I said, it should be done right. I believe the guy should buy the tickets, pick the girl up, take pictures… you know, like they do in the movies."

Buffy smiled and shook her head, whispering. "Thank you." He really was perfect. She started to wonder what his prom had been like. "Did you do all that for your prom?"

Angel shook his head, but didn't say anything.

"Who was your date?" She wondered.

Angel shook his head again. "I didn't go to my prom. Xander and Oz went, they said it was boring and they should have stayed home with me."

"it will be the first time for both of us then." She whispered. "I haven't been to a school dance since I was in Eighth grade and my dates were my three best friends. Not that I got to enjoy the dance that time either, we had planned the dance and I was running around like a crazy person trying to make sure everything was going as planned."

"So…" Angel gave her a teasing look. "Sunday mornings are nothing new for you."

Buffy laughed and playfully bumped him with her shoulder. "I guess not."

Angel smiled at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "So, why were Faith and Willow at your house last night but you weren't?"

"Oh my gosh!" Buffy exclaimed. "So much has happened since Sunday!"

"What?!" Angel exclaimed, raising his voice in a girly way, to tease her. "We saw each other on Monday and you didn't mention it!"

Buffy laughed, and hid her face in his chest, trying to stop herself from laughing even harder. Smiling up at him, she laced her fingers through his fingers as his arm was around her shoulder. "Faith's mom officially abandoned her and my mom is her temporary guardian, found that gem out right after you dropped me off Sunday afternoon. She has to stay out of trouble and go to Sunnydale High or else the social worker said she will end up in some group home for troubled girls. Willow has been going to my house the last couple afternoons to help Faith prep for this placement test she had to take because she dropped out at such a young age."

"Wow." Angel was shocked that someone could just leave their own child. "That really sucks but it's awesome that she can live with you and that Willow is helping her. That still doesn't explain why you weren't home."

Buffy pursed her lips. "Well, I kind of… got a job."

"You got a job?" Angel asked her, surprised. She seemed to really enjoy helping his mother, he was surprised that Buffy hadn't asked if she could continue doing it. "Doing what?"

"The DoubleMeat Palace." She replied.

He rested his chin on her head, this is what he loved, being this close to her. He had always worried about getting too close to girls because so many of them turned it sexual, but there was no pressure with Buffy. They could simply just be close. He couldn't believe he had waited so long to find that out. He was really happy that he had decided to skip out on doing some of his homework and help with her basement and then go to the concert on Saturday. "Why were you gone so late? We stayed a while and still didn't get to see you."

"I work the closing shift." She whispered, resting her head on his shoulder.

Angel leaned away from her to get a better look at her face. "Buffy, that place is open until two in the morning."

Buffy nodded, she definitely knew that from how tired she was and how much make up she had to put on that morning.

"How do you function at school after working so late?" He asked, concerned.

Buffy shrugged. "I did it today. I mean, I'm really tired but it's something that I need to do."

"How do you get there and home?" He asked concerned.

Buffy shrugged again. "I ride the bus."

"Buffy!" Angel stepped further away from her, standing directly in front of her. "Weirdo's ride the bus that late."

Buffy raised her eyebrows at him, she had never heard him talk like that before. "I ride the bus."

"Exactly my point." He gave her a playful look, but then turned serious. "Why do you need to work there? Is everything okay at home… money wise?"

"I'm mostly doing it because of prom and I need a car." She replied. "I don't think it's exactly fair to put those things on my mom."

"I understand that." Angel gave her a small smile, placing his bended pointer finger under her chin, he gently lifted her face to look at him. "I just think maybe you should find a job that doesn't involve working so late and having to take the bus."

"The bus is just a temporary thing." She whispered, placing a hand on both of his sides. "I just have to make a couple thousand dollars to get a car from Xander's uncle."

Angel narrowed his eyes at Buffy. "I don't like it."

Buffy smiled up at him. She kind of liked to see him worried about her, was that wrong of her? "Duly noted."

A soft chuckle escaped his lips, as he gently rubbed his thumb on her chin. "What time do you work tonight?"

Right at this moment, she didn't want to think about going to work because that meant that Angel had to stop touching her and she didn't like that thought. She liked what they were doing, right now, couldn't they just keep doing it? "Seven."

"Okay." Angel whispered. "I'll drive you."

Buffy shook her head. "Angel, you have a lot going on right now with school. I don't want to waste your time."

"It's not wasting my time."

0o0o0

Jenny walked upstairs leading to the bedrooms and the family room, she figured she would get a little cleaning done before bed. She didn't have much time to clean her own house now that Buffy wasn't at the church everyday helping out, it was all falling on her again, which was fine because it was her job. She had just hoped that since Buffy had said she was going to be staying at the church that she would be staying to help her as well. It was shocking how much help Buffy had truly been in Kids Ministry, it had only been a couple of days since her community service had ended and she was greatly missed. She did notice that a couple of the classrooms had been sanitized and organized. At first, she didn't know who it had been but Ellen Frank had told her that Buffy stopped by for a few hours after school. She was extremely grateful for the help. Jenny grabbed the vacuum from the closet and made her way towards the family room. She let out a surprised scream when she saw her son sitting on the couch, with a notebook beside him and a laptop in front of him on the coffee table. "Angel, what are you doing here?" She checked the clock hanging on the wall, to see that it was almost one in the morning.

"I have been waiting for you!" Angel exclaimed. "Where have you been?"

Jenny sighed. "I have been at the church trying to get things situated. I have meetings all week, and I won't have time to do it later."

"Then I have the perfect solution!" Angel leaned forward on the couch.

"Angel, I'm happy that you are trying to help, but I repeat…" Jenny said slowly. "What are you doing here? You should be at the dorm, don't you have a really important lecture in the morning?"

Angel nodded. "Yeah, but I have something to do in a little while. I just figured I would go to the dorm after."

"What could you possibly have to do this late?" Jenny asked her son.

"Jenny…." Pastor Giles called, he walked out of the bedroom he shared with his wife, walking down the hall to where he heard her voice coming from. "What is going…" He looked at the vacuum in his wife's hand. "Are you vacuuming this late?"

"I was going to, until your son scared the life out of me." Jenny told him, pointing at Angel.

Rupert Giles finally looked at his son. "Oh, hello, son."

Jenny rolled her eyes. "You don't even want to know what he is doing here in the middle of the night?"

"Well, it's his home too." Rupert reasoned.

"I was waiting for you, mom." Angel told her again. "I wanted to talk to you about Buffy."

Jenny looked at Angel confused. "What about Buffy?"

"Did you know she is working the closing shift at The DoubleMeat Palace?" Angel asked. "She doesn't get out until two in the morning!"

Realization hit Jenny, now she knew what it was that he was doing later. "And you are going to pick her up from work?"

Angel nodded. "Otherwise, she's going to ride the bus."

"Does she realize how dangerous that is?" Rupert asked his son. "Why is it that she is working there? Are she and her mother having money problems?"

"Well, Faith's mom apparently skipped down and social services has made Mrs. Summers her temporary guardian." Angel told them. "And Buffy didn't really want to go to prom but Willow asked her to go last minute and once Buffy is able to get her license back she wants to get a car."

Jenny shook her head, the things that she knew Faith had already gone through were horrible. No child should have to deal with that. "I wasn't aware that all that was happening with Faith."

"It happened on Sunday, Buffy didn't know about it until after I dropped her off." He explained.

"That would explain it." Jenny nodded. "I haven't talked to Buffy since we did lunch on Sunday."

Angel frowned. "She didn't do her community service on Monday?"

"Buffy finished her community service about mid-day on Saturday." She told her son.

Angel smiled, she had stuck around to keep helping his mom even after her community service was over. Most people that have been assigned to do community service there want to get out of there as soon as they can. "Is there… is there any way that Buffy could work at Awaken? I mean, she could really help out in Kids Min."

"Oh, Sweetie." Jenny shook her head. "I don't know if that is in the budget."

"Then dock my pay!" Angel replied without missing a beat.

"Dock your pay?" Rupert repeated. "Angel, I know you care about Buffy, we all do…"

"Dad, please." He pleaded. "I need to know that she's working somewhere that she is going to be safe. I don't want her working night shifts."

Jenny elbowed her husband in the ribs, giving him a pointed look.

"I, uh…" Rupert started. "I knew you cared about her, Angel, I guess I just didn't know how far it had gone."

"I did." Jenny smiled at her son, she could feel her husband looked at her questioningly. "What? They both came to me."

"Both?" Rupert asked, surprised.

Jenny smiled again and nodded. "Our son and Buffy Summers are very close to being in love." Jenny paused and looked at Angel. "Or possibly, already are."

Angel silently looked from his mother to his father. Would they both be okay with the fact that he was in love with Buffy? He really wanted them to be okay with it.

Rupert gasped. "Well, I'll be."

Jenny smiled wider. "And personally, I couldn't be happier for them."

"Really?" Angel asked. "Because I'm going to prom with Buffy."

Jenny looked at her son surprised. "Angel, we discussed you waiting until she is eighteen. I had the same discussion with Buffy."

"You did?" Her son asked her. "So, she knows that I'm just waiting on her to turn eighteen?"

Jenny nodded. "But prom is before her birthday."

"We are just going to prom together as friends." He reassured her.

Rupert and Jenny looked at each other before turning back to their son. "Make sure she quits that job, son." Pastor Giles nodded at Angel.

"We will see what we can do with the budget." Jenny smiled before leaving the room with her husband. She peaked her head back in the door quickly. "You have some time before Buffy gets out of work, why don't you vacuum?"

Angel smiled brightly at the doorway that his mom had just left, before grabbing the vacuum and doing exactly what she had asked him to do.

0o0o0

"You do this every night?" Buffy asked Gary, picking up her ridiculous cow hat from the counter, she had taken it off as soon as the last customer left. "I wasn't even finished being tired from last night."

Gary nodded as he grabbed the rest of his stuff. "You get used to it after a while. You will forget what tired feels like, and what sleep feels like for that matter."

"No!" Buffy gasped dramatically, grabbing her bag that held her clothes from the school day. "I need my sleep!"

Gary punched a few keys on the security system, before walking over to the door with Buffy behind him. "Nah, I used to think the same thing." He looked outside, then back to Buffy. "Careful, there is a creepy guy out here."

Buffy laughed as she looked through her bag for her wallet. She needed to find her change for the bus. "What do you mean there is a creepy…" Buffy looked up as she walked out the door, Gary locked the door behind her. She smiled when she saw Angel leaning against the passenger door of his car. "Angel."

"Huh?" Gary asked, looking towards her, he watched her walk over to the guy.

Angel reached his arms out to Buffy, he had the urge to hug her, to hold her and never let go. His friends were right, he did have it bad.

"No." Buffy laughed softly, but didn't try to get away from him. "I smell like meat by-product."

Angel pretended to sniff her. "You smell fine."

"No, I don't!"

"Buffy, have you met my best friend?" He asked as he hugged her. "Xander sweats meat by-product."

Buffy laughed louder. "What are you doing here? You should be asleep right now."

"So, should you." Angel gave her a pointed look. "Come on, I will take you home."

Buffy looked behind her when Gary walked up, then turned back to Angel. "Angel, this is Gary, he is the other closer."

"Oh, Angel!" Gary laughed, holding his hand out to Angel to shake. "She talks about you so much, I feel like I already know you."

"Gary!" Buffy exclaimed, embarrassed, then turned to Angel. "I don't…"

"Yes, you do." Gary teased, looking at Angel. "I know that your dad is the Pastor at Awaken Church, you are going to school to be a Pastor, you are going to prom together, you have nice hands and biceps to die for."

"Oh my gosh!" The blonde covered her face in embarrassment.

Angel started to laugh, he should have known she liked his hands, recently, she seemed to touch them every chance she got.

"Hey, she's actually a pretty cool girl, you know, if you like those…" Gary looked towards the road as a car drove by and yelled. "HONK IF YOU LOVE JESUS…" He turned back to the pair. "...people. Which, I'm guessing you do. And on that note…" He pointed towards his car on the other side of the parking lot. "See you tomorrow, Buffy."

"And on Sunday." She reminded him. "Right off Maple."

"Doubt it." He called back to her.

"Come on." Angel laughed, opening the door for her.

She blushed, mostly because Angel was so sweet to her and she wasn't used to it coming from a guy and partly because her co-worker had just completely embarrassed her in front of Angel. She really hadn't realized that she talked about Angel that much, but apparently, she did.

"Oh, my." Buffy gasped, pulling at her shirt. "I'm getting my by-product stench all over your car, you will never get the smell out of your seats."

"Don't worry about it." He smiled over at her as he pulled out of the parking lot. "How was work?"

"Long. Apparently, this place has a regular customer that comes in everyday and orders the same exact thing. She's not the most-polite old lady either, I mean, she told me that she could see me working there for a long time. How rude!" Buffy exclaimed, earning a laugh from Angel. "Did you at least get some of your homework done?"

Angel nodded. "You had a long shift, Buffy. I finished my sermon."

"Really?" Buffy smiled, he had been working so hard on it for on it for so long. "You must feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. Do I get to hear it?"

Angel shrugged. "Maybe. Depends on what grade I get."

Buffy rolled her eyes and laughed. "Please, you are going to get the highest grade in the class."

"And why is that?" He asked her teasingly.

"Because, you are you." Buffy smiled. "And I like you."

Angel smiled over at her before looking back to the road, he reached his hand out, taking his hand in hers. "To bad you aren't my professor."

"Then you would be the teachers pet." Buffy smiled as she looked out the window.

Angel laughed, then quickly turned to look at her again, and then back to the road. "You should go talk to my mom tomorrow."

Buffy looked over at him, confused. "About what? Not that I don't love talking to your mom, I do. But, is there a specific reason?"

Angel nodded. "Yeah, there is. It's pretty important so you should go tomorrow after school."

"Well, I was going to go prom dress shopping tomorrow before work, Mr. I-Want-My-Vest-To-Match-Your-Dress." She teased. "But I don't have to go."

"I thought you weren't going dress shopping until you got paid?" He asked.

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, but a girl at work told me about this boutique called Couture Crush that will hold the dress for me and I can just pay for it when I get paid."

"You should definitely go dress shopping." Angel nodded. "See my mom either before or after you go shopping and just don't go to work."

"Excuse me?" Buffy laughed. "You really don't want me to work there, do you?"

Angel shook his head. "You have been riding the bus, Buffy."

"I only did it a few times." She reasoned. "How do you think I got to campus to see you on Monday?"

"You took the bus?" He asked her, why didn't she tell him when she was there? "If I had known then I would have driven you home."

"It's a bus, Angel" She laughed. "People ride them every day."

"Just promise me that you will go see my mom tomorrow." He said.

"Okay." She whispered. "I promise."


	19. Prom Shopping

Jubi1- Oh, you are evil! HAHA Poor tortured Buffy and Angel.

Sassy.B93- Thank you! Prom should be fun!

Allison117- I love that you get giddy while reading this story! I want this Angel too, if only my Pastor had this Angel as his son. LOL Every version of Angel is hot! Thank you for reviewing!

The Slayer96- Thank you for your review! I'm happy that you are excited to read more!

Ruburb171717- I agree, Joyce wouldn't have threatened to kill Buffy, it's more like one of those things where you are extremely frustrated with a kid and you are at your wits end with them. Being an aunt of 18, I definitely feel really frustrated when the kids keep getting into trouble. Hopefully you continue reading.

Okay guys! Here is chapter 19 for you, and I already have chapter 20 written and I will post it very soon! I keep wanting to go further with this story so, I might not be done by the time my classes start up on Monday. I'm playing with the idea of continuing this story or writing a sequel. Don't forget to review!

Chapter 19: Prom Shopping

Willow had dropped Buffy off at the church before heading over to pick up Faith before picking Buffy back up to go dress shopping. Faith was happy for the break from studying. Faith had complained all morning before Buffy went to school, Buffy had told her best friend that it was just because she had been out of school for so long and that it would get easier. Faith didn't look convinced. Buffy tossed her bag, with her work clothes in it, into the chair in Jenny's office. She really didn't want to go to work, or at least not to work at The DoubleMeat Palace, but she knew that she needed to. It was time to be a big girl now, but Angel's voice telling her not to go to work was echoing in her head. Maybe she would stay at The DoubleMeat Palace long enough to pay for prom and then she would try to find another job. She didn't want Angel to get worry lines on that handsome face, and he was clearly worried about her. Angel even told her that every day that she worked, he would be taking her to work and picking her up to take her home. She didn't know for sure, but she was convinced that they didn't make men like Angel anymore.

Buffy went in search of Jenny, she had no idea where she could be, walking out into the foyer of the church she smiled when she saw Gunn. "Hey, Gunn! How are you?"

"Ah." He shrugged. "Pretty good, you?"

"Tired." She said with a small laugh. "I worked until two in the morning."

Gunn nodded. "I heard you were working at The DoubleMeat Palace. Isn't it illegal for you to work that late with you being a minor?"

Buffy shook her head. "If I was still sixteen then it would be, but seventeen is a whole new ball game. Hey, have you seen Jenny? Angel said she wanted to talk to me?"

"When did Angel tell you that?" Gunn asked. "He has lectures and tests all day."

"He does?!" Buffy asked shocked, how did he stay up to pick her up from work if he had a busy day, and Angel having tests that day just made it worse. "He picked me up from work and told me to meet with his mom."

"Oh, he has got it bad!" Gunn laughed. He had heard from Oz and Xander how much Angel liked Buffy but he didn't think it was as bad as Angel staying out that late and interfering with him schooling. Angel had always been a stickler for school, he took it very seriously, and Angel was also very distant when it came to girls. He never allowed himself to get close to them, he had never even seen Angel give a girl a hug because he didn't want to send the wrong message. From what Xander had told him, Angel had allowed Buffy to get past those walls that he had up and had even held the blondes hand. "Jenny is in a meeting." Gunn looked down at his watch. "She should be out in a couple minutes. They had some emergency budget meeting this morning that pushed everything back today."

Buffy made a confused face, why would they need to have an emergency budget meeting? She hoped the church wasn't having money issues. "Okay, I will keep an ear out for her and do some work in a classroom until she is done."

"I'm sure she will appreciate that." Gunn smiled, as he started to walk towards the sanctuary, Xander had mentioned a broken light that needed to be fixed. "She was here really late last night trying to get classrooms ready."

"What happened to Friday meetings only?" Buffy wondered.

Gunn shrugged. "They are trying to come up with new fun ideas, they try to do family fun nights once a week during the summer. Angel normally helps out with the ideas but he's been so busy with school that he hadn't been in on them. I think everyone is going to be happy when Angel graduates."

"No one more than Angel." Buffy smiled before she and Gunn went their separate ways.

0o0o0

Buffy went over the lesson plan one last time, she was making some final changes to make Sunday morning go a little smoother for the volunteer teachers, and she would send out an email about the changes as soon as possible. She smiled when Jenny walked into her office but didn't even look up at Buffy, she was too interested in the papers in her hand. Jenny quickly glanced up, she jumped slightly when she saw Buffy sitting on the other side of her desk, like she often did when they were working on the lesson plan or sending out emails. "Jeez! You and Angel, I swear!" She glanced down at her desk, setting the papers down. "What's up, Buffy? Was this a planned visit?"

Buffy shrugged. "Angel told me to stop by after school and see you."

"Oh! Right!" Jenny motioned to her head. "So, I heard you got a job?"

"Yesss." Buffy said slowly. "And your son hates it."

Jenny laughed. "He just worries about you."

Buffy smiled, apparently everyone knew that Angel was worried about her. "I gathered."

Jenny sat down in her desk chair. "He's not the only one that worries about you, Buffy, we all care about you."

"I know." Buffy said, still smiling. "So, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Well…" Jenny started. "Here's the thing, my work load is extremely heavy, and having you here for the past month has really helped me out and we love all the changes that you have made to Kids Min. So, we would like it… no, we would love it, if you would come back and help out again."

"Jenny, as much as I would love to do that, I just don't have enough time in the day." Buffy shook her head. "With school and work…"

"It would be a paid position, Buffy." Jenny gave her a small smile. "The same hours, if not slightly more flexible than your community service hours."

"Did Angel…" Buffy shook her head again. "Did Angel talk to you?"

Jenny nodded. "But it was something that I had wanted already, I just didn't think it was in the budget, but we found a way to make it work. I know it's probably not as much money as you are making now but it would be $10 an hour, I know it's not much."

Buffy jumped up, hugging Jenny. "It's more than what The DoubleMeat Palace pays!"

"Is that a yes?" Jenny smiled, when Buffy pulled away.

"Yes, it's a yes!" Buffy laughed.

"Awesome!" Jenny laughed, she got into her top drawer and pulled something out, she handed it to Buffy. "This is for the partial day on Saturday and Sunday."

"What?" Buffy asked, taking it from her, looking at it she shook her head when she saw a check for $100. "I don't…"

"Buffy, you earned it." Jenny rubbed the blondes arm. "I know it's not much."

"No." Buffy shook her head. "It's great, I just… I feel guilty getting paid to go to church."

Jenny laughed again. "As crazy as it sounds, I get paid for Sunday's too. Ethan knows how crazy is it in Kid Min. Angel, Oz and Gunn get paid for Sunday's as well."

Buffy laughed. "Well, yeah! If I was Gunn and I didn't get paid for fixing the toilet when a kid shoved a toy dinosaur in there, I would be upset. Okay, so… when do I start?"

Jenny shrugged. "When can you start?"

The blonde thought for a moment. "Well, I still technically work at The DoubleMeat Palace."

"And you normally would have to give a place of employment a two weeks notice." Jenny reminded her.

Buffy's eyes got large. "Two weeks! I'm miserable after two days! Angel told me just not to go."

"Angel? My son, Angel?" Jenny questioned in disbelief. "The stickler for responsibility told you not to go to work?"

Buffy nodded. "But I have to go tonight, I would feel horrible if I left Gary there to fend for himself."

"Well, everything should be set here for Sunday, I stayed late last night… Just a little more sanitizing needs to be done." Jenny looked at the calendar on her desk. "Could you start on Sunday?"

"Yes, that sounds good to me." Buffy smiled. "Now I just have to get through tonight and tomorrow of work. It works out fine that way. I'm going to pick out my prom dress hopefully tonight, and then I will get paid Friday night and Saturday morning I can cash my check and go pay for my dress."

"Getting your dress the day of prom?" Jenny asked with a smile. "You have guts, Buffy."

Buffy took a deep breath. "Well, I'm only going tonight because Angel… Did Angel tell you that we were going to prom together?"

Jenny nodded. "He told us last night, I reminded him that you aren't eighteen yet and he said you are just going as friends."

"Yeah, strictly friends." The blonde shook her head. "I don't want Angel to get into any trouble because of me, he was just the only person I thought of that I would want to spend the evening with."

"That's sweet." The dark-haired woman smiled.

Buffy laughed. "Angel wants to know the color of my dress so he knows what color corsage to get me and he mentioned his vest matching my dress…."

"Wow." Jenny laughed. "He really is going all out."

Buffy stood up and smiled. "I should really get going, Willow is going to be here any minute to pick me up for said dress shopping. I'm a little scared that Faith is going too but maybe it will have some kind of balance because Faith is really edgy and Willow is more… conservative."

"And what are you, Buffy?" Jenny teased, as she stood up from her chair.

Buffy shrugged. "Lately, conservative."

"Good girl." Jenny laughed, giving Buffy a hug. "I better get to my next meeting."

"Thanks again, Jenny. I really appreciate everything that you have all done for me." Buffy smiled.

0o0o0

Buffy, Faith and Willow all looked through different racks of dresses in the small shop. Willow already knew what she had in mind but she couldn't seem to find it in the store. Was it too much to ask for a floor length, long sleeved, turtle neck dress? Buffy and Faith seemed to think so. Willow looked up from the rack to her blonde best friend. "What was it that Jenny wanted to talk to you about?"

Buffy smiled. "She offered me a job."

"What?" Willow smiled.

Faith scoffed. "Didn't you tell her you already have a killer job that leaves you smelling like grease fried twice?"

Buffy rolled her eyes with a smile. "I said yes!"

"Seriously!?" Willow ran over to Buffy.

Buffy nodded. "I'm going to finish off today and tomorrow and then Saturday is all about Prom and I start at the church on Sunday."

"That is so awesome, Buffy!" Willow smiled and jumped up and down with Buffy. "Now you will get to see Angel even more!"

"Yeah, I don't think her hormones can handle that." Faith said with a teasing smile. "What about this one?" Faith held out a black halter top dress with side cutouts, she turned it around to show the open back.

"For who?" Buffy asked.

"Me!" Faith exclaimed. "Duh!"

Willow pouted, she was confused. "I thought Harmony said that you couldn't go to prom because you aren't a Junior."

"Yeah." Faith shrugged. "But I went back today and said I was Buffy and they gave me two tickets."

Buffy walked over to Faith, with wide eyes. "You what?"

Faith nodded. "It was super easy, I said I was Buffy and this guy, Jonathan, kept calling me Buffy over and over again while he rambled on about Pokémon cards, he must not actually know you, B, but yeah, I went up and said that I was you and he said their records show that two tickets were already bought under your name and I just told him that my boyfriend bought them and forgot to pick them up. It was SO easy."

"Oh my…" Buffy breathed. "If I get in trouble because of you… wait, who is going with you? You got two tickets."

Faith shrugged. "I was thinking about asking Xander, do you think he already has plans?"

Buffy and Willow looked at each other then back at Faith, both replying at the same time. "No."

Faith held the dress up again. "So?"

Buffy shrugged, it was something that she would have been into before and she had to admit, it was a nice looking dress, she just didn't think she could wear it because of the amount of skin it showed. "For you, yeah."

"Awesome!" Faith smiled and looked at the price tag. "And it's on sale!"

"I can't believe you used my name!" Buffy huffed as she pulled a pink dress off the rack. "This is pretty nice, I think I might try it on."

"You only shopping in the sales rack too, B?" Faith said walking over to the sales woman to ask for a fitting room.

Buffy shrugged. "I guess it depends on how much I get paid, Jenny gave me a check for working half of the day on Saturday and on Sunday."

Willow smiled, she loved that Buffy was going to be working at the church. She did such an amazing job at keeping all the volunteers up to date on what was going on. "That was so nice of her."

Buffy nodded as the sales woman walked over and offered to take the pink dress for Buffy to try on when she was ready. "Yeah, maybe now I can afford to buy Angel a boutonniere."

"You guys are doing that?" Willow looked worried. "Should me and Malcolm do that?"

Walking over towards her red-headed friend, Buffy looked at a dress on the rack. "Angel wants to do it, he didn't mention a boutonniere, specifically but he said he wants to do it right, so he is getting me a corsage to match my dress and he wants to match his vest."

Willow blinked, stunned. She didn't think so much time and effort went into prom. She didn't know how expensive it was either until her dad had reminded her that there was a price limit on what she could spend on a dress. "I … I mean…"

"Angel didn't go to his own prom." Buffy told her. "I think he's making up for it now, or something. Which, I'm cool with."

"You would be cool with anything that had to do with Angel." Willow gushed.

"Well, yeah!" Buffy laughed, then held out a champagne colored dress, it wasn't long sleeved but it had a high neck on it and it was floor length. She thought it would be perfect for Willow. "What about this one, Wills?"

"I don't… I don't know, Buffy." Willow shook her head.

"Why not?" Buffy asked looking at it again. "Just try it on, you might like it." She handed Willow the dress and gasped when she saw the dress that was beside it. "Can I wear white this time of year?" She called to her friends, Faith was still in the dressing room and Willow was making her way towards the sales woman with the dress. "I don't completely understand that whole white and Labor Day rule." Taking the dress off the rack, she held it up to her body in front of a full-length mirror. "It's gorgeous." She whispered to herself. "This is the one." She smiled, then she looked at the price tag and cringed. She didn't know how much she was going to be getting in her paycheck, it might not be something that she could afford. Maybe they would hold two dresses for her until she knew how much money she would have. Biting her lip, she thought for a moment, then turned around with the dress in her hand. It wouldn't hurt to try it on.

0o0o0

Buffy smiled as she walked out of The DoubleMeat Palace with Gary to see Angel standing by his car with the door already open for her. How did she end up so lucky?

"I can see this is going to become a habit." Gary laughed. "Well, I would love to stay and chat…" He nodded at Angel. "But I have to get home."

"Don't stay up too late." Buffy called after him, Gary was a nice guy, he just didn't leave much time for a social life.

Gary rolled his eyes and laughed. "Yes, mom."

Turning back towards Angel, Buffy smiled when he motioned to the front seat and bowed his head. She climbed in, tossed her bag in the back seat and buckled the seat belt while he ran around the car and got in. "You went to see my mom today?"

Buffy nodded. "Yes, and she said there just happens to be a job available for me… and I can't help but think you had something to do with that."

"Me?" Angel shook his head. "No way. Are you going to take it?"

She smiled at Angel. "I already did."

Angel let out a breath of relief. "Thank you, God!"

Buffy laughed. "Did you pray about that?"

"So hard!" Angel laughed. "Why did you go to work tonight if you took the job at Awaken?"

"Angel." She laughed again. "I still have to be able to afford a prom dress. Friday is going to be my last day, I just don't know how to break it to Manny, The Manager."

"Manny, The Manager?" He asked. "Isn't that a children's book?"

The blonde couldn't hold in her laughter, if it wasn't a children's book then she was going to make it into one! "I did think about what you said though."

"Which thing that I said?" He asked, looking from the road to her then back again. "I tend to say a lot of things."

Buffy shook her head and laughed. She didn't know why she found him so funny tonight, maybe she was over tired. "The thing about just not going to work, and I… I kind of went to work tonight for a completely selfish reason."

"And what reason would that be?" He asked, not sure where she was going with this.

"Well…" She scooted a little closer to Angel. "I know that you probably have a million and one things that you could be doing instead of picking me up from work in the middle of the night but… I really wanted to see you."

"Buffy, you can see me anytime." He shook his head. "You don't have to work a seven hour shift to see me. I'm helping to fix up your basement, you can see me in the comfort of your own home."

"But there are so many people around at my house and we can't do this…" She slipped her hand in his and smiled. "And it's not, oh say…" She looked at the clock in the car. "2:36AM and your extra funny from sleep deprivation."

Angel looked down at their joined hands and smiled. "I'm not sleep deprived, tonight I took a nap and I'm sure we can work it out so I can see you at some completely random time in the morning."

"I like seeing you in the morning." She whispered, laying her head back on the seat, when she realized what she said she shook her head. "Or… well, you know what I mean."

"Yeah." Angel nodded. "I think." Angel looked over at her quickly. "Did you find a dress?"

"Kind of." She looked down at their hands when she felt Angel gently rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. "It's down to two dresses, it just depends on how much I get paid on Friday. But, to give you kind of an idea, one is pink and one is white. You probably won't want to match your vest to the pink one."

"Pfft!" Angel scoffed teasingly. "Real men wear pink."

"And that is definitely you." Buffy smiled.


	20. Buffy's Blessing

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter too, while I get to work on chapter 21!

Chapter 20: Buffy's Blessing

"I just had the weirdest conversation in my life!" Xander exclaimed, as be barged into Angel and Oz's dorm room.

Angel looked up from where he was unpacking his school bag, quickly. He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible so he could run some errands before he had to head to the Summers' house to pick up Buffy to take her to work. She must be exhausted because he was tired himself and she was the one working the shift. "How does a weird conversation differ from any other conversation you have ever had?"

Xander rolled his eyes, sitting down on Oz's bed. "This one was…"

"Can you talk and walk?" Angel asked, grabbing his wallet and putting it in his pocket. "I have to get out of here."

"Didn't you just get here?" Xander asked his friend, standing up and following him out the door.

Angel nodded, turning around to lock his door. "I just got back from class, yes, but I have some stuff I need to get done."

"Oh." Xander shrugged, taking large strides to try to keep up with his best friend. "Well, anyway, I got asked to prom!"

Angel stopped mid step, causing Xander to bump into him. "You got asked to prom? By who?"

"Faith!" Exclaimed Xander. "I said yes because hello! She's a girl and I haven't been on a date with a real one in a long time. But what do I wear?"

"Don't you still have your tux from prom?" Angel asked as he started walking again.

"Well…yeah." Xander nodded. "But if you haven't noticed, I have kind of gained a…" He motioned to his stomach. "KEG since then!"

"You have not." Angel shook his head but looked down at his best friend's stomach, just to make sure, the Summers' girls and most recently Faith had been feeding him fairly well since they started working on the basement. "If you need a new tux then you can tag along with me."

"Where are you going?" Xander asked as he follow Angel out of the building, towards the parking lot.

Arriving at his black convertible, Angel unlocked the car. "Prom stuff." He answered, as Xander hoped in the passenger seat. He didn't need to know every detail, he just wanted to tag along. "I have a stop to make before we look for tuxes though."

0o0o0

"Keep an eye out for this place…" Angel said to Xander as they drove down the street slowly, he knew it was around here somewhere. "It's called… Couture Crush."

Xander made a face. "What's…"

"Never mind." Angel nodded towards a store that had dresses hanging in the windows on display, before pulling up in front of the store.

"Um… Angel." Xander paused before he got out of the car. "I don't know if you know this but we are men… we need to wear, oh, I don't know." He shrugged. "a tux!"

Angel shook his head as he got out of the car. "I'm aware, but I told you that I had a stop to make."

Angel looked around the store when he walked in, he had never actually been in a woman's dress store before, it was a little overwhelming. Girls had an overwhelming amount of choices, he was silently thanking God that it was easier to pick out a tux.

"Can I help you?" A sales woman asked Angel and Xander.

Xander wondered away, as Angel nodded his head. "A girl came in yesterday, my… my girlfriend, she was going to pick out a dress for prom and put it on hold." He knew he had lied about Buffy being his girlfriend but he would repent later, he just didn't want to come off as a crazy stalker to the sales woman.

"Okay! Follow me." The woman motioned for him to follow her to their computers, it wasn't very often that a guy came in looking to match his tux to his dates dress, but it did happen occasionally. "What was the name?"

"Buffy Summers." He told her, then watched as she typed it into the computer.

The woman nodded. "Yes, it looks like she actually put two dresses on hold yesterday."

Angel nodded, Buffy had mentioned that she had picked out two dresses depending on how much she got paid determined which dress she bought. "Do you… do you know which one she liked more?"

"I wasn't actually here… but…" The woman turned around towards a blonde woman putting some dresses on a rack. "Cassie! You were here when Buffy Summers came in yesterday, right?"

Cassie thought for a moment then nodded. "Yeah, what's up?"

"This is Buffy's boyfriend…" The sales woman motioned to Angel, he couldn't help but smile when she had called him Buffy's boyfriend. "He was wondering which one she seemed to like more, do you know?"

"Well, from her reaction when trying them on." Cassie smiled. "She liked the white with the gold empire waist, but from what she told her friend, it didn't sound like she would have enough money for it and would have to go with the pink one."

Angel nodded at the women as Xander called his name from the back of the store. "Hey, man! They have a secret tux section back here!"

Angel laughed. "Two birds, one stone. Could you help me find a tux that would go perfectly with the white dress?"

The sales woman raised her eyebrows at the man, her co-worker had just said that his girlfriend couldn't afford the white dress and he wants to match to a white dress instead of the pink dress that was on sale.

Cassie smiled at Angel. "Yeah, come on!"

"Did there happen to be a brunette with Buffy yesterday?" Angel asked Cassie, as they walked closer to Xander in the tux section.

Cassie nodded. "Yeah, a brunette and a redhead."

Angel smiled, nodding towards Xander. "Good, the brunette is his date."

"You have it easy then." Cassie shrugged at Xander. "She got a black dress. Simple but sassy, you are going to love it. It seems like you are all cutting it pretty close to prom, aren't you?"

Angel nodded. "I didn't even know I was going until Monday and Buffy said she would let me know as soon as she could what color her dress was. Last night she told me it was between a pink dress and a white dress."

"I didn't even know until today!" Xander exclaimed, it still blew his mind that Faith had asked him. Out of all the people she could have asked.

"Your…" Cassie thought for a moment, she knew she remembered the guys names that the three girls were talking about. "Xander, right?"

Xander nodded. "How did you know?"

"The girls were talking about a Xander, Angel and Malcolm." She said nodding her head with each name.

Angel smiled. "I'm Angel."

Cassie laughed. "Malcolm doesn't need any help picking out a tux, I guess."

Xander and Angel looked at each other and shrugged. "We don't know him."

0o0o0

After school Buffy and Willow rushed to pick up Faith from the Summers house and then to the bank to cash the check that Jenny had given her the day before. The plan was to go to Couture Crush and pay for the dresses that she and Faith had picked out. Buffy had decided to go with the pink dress just because it was on sale, she could afford to pay for most of it with the check that Jenny had given her and Joyce had given Faith some money to get the dress because it was on sale. She offered to help Buffy pay for her dress, but Buffy refused. Joyce wanted Buffy and Faith to have as many teenage experiences as possible and prom was a very important one. After Buffy tried on six dresses she finally settled on the first two that she had found. Faith had decided to go with the first dress she had tried on because it was the cheapest one she could find, and it just happened to look amazing on her! Willow had jokingly made a comment about the dress being so cheap because it was missing most of the material.

Willow had the hardest time finding a dress, she kept worrying about what Malcolm would like. Buffy was convinced Willow had tried on every dress in her size, but all of them were either too revealing, too short, too long, or didn't go with her hair color. At one point, out of frustration, Willow had said she hated her hair color and wanted to shave her head. Faith had then told Willow that Malcolm probably didn't like bald girls. It wasn't until Buffy had sat Willow down and told her not to stress about it and if Malcolm didn't like her red hair then he wasn't the right guy for her. That seemed to satisfy Willow and she decided to go with the champagne color dress that Buffy had found for her.

Buffy rushed up to the counter at the dress shop with Willow and Faith walking behind her. "HI." Buffy smiled at the red-headed woman behind the counter. "I just wanted to come and make a payment on my prom dress, and my friend needs to pay for hers."

"Okay." The woman smiled at her. "Who wants to go first?"

Faith smiled and bumped Buffy out of the way with her hip. This was the first time she had ever bought a dress that nice and the big key word in there was bought. She had stolen a good amount of clothes in her day because her mom never had the money to pay for them. She was excited to be doing things the legal way. "Faith Lehane."

The woman laughed at Faith's actions as she took the money from Faith, then turned around to search through the rack of dresses that were on hold to find Faith's prom dress.

Faith turned around, leaning on the check-out counter. "So, Red, last night when you got home did you put your prom dress on and dance in front of the mirror?"

Willow shook her head quickly. "No!" After a pause, she shrugged. "Maybe, just for a minute. I…" The red head took a deep breath. "I needed to get used to the… no sleeves."

Faith laughed, and turned back around to take her dress from the sales woman before stepping out of the way for Buffy.

"My name is Buffy Summers." She told the woman, getting the money out of her purse. "I know I need like another $70 and I will come back tomorrow to pay the rest, I just need to get…"

"Don't worry about it." The woman smiled as she looked at the computer, then turned around to search the rack for Buffy's dress.

Buffy looked at her friends confused, when the woman handed her a white zipped up bag. "Um, I think there has been a mistake." Buffy shook her head looking down at the dress, the pink dress came in a clear dress bag just like all the other dresses that were on sale, and she hadn't even paid for the dress yet.

The woman shook her head as she looked at the computer again. "No, this is your dress." Then she checked the tag on the dress again. "It says Buffy Summers."

Buffy unzipped the dress bag slightly to see the white material of the dress she had really wanted but couldn't afford, then shook her head.

"It's already paid for." The sales woman confirmed, looking at her computer. "No mistake."

Buffy was even more confused now. "But... wh… who?"

The woman clicked something on the computer, then looked up at the blonde. "Someone with the last name Giles."

Buffy hugged the white dress to her tightly, she wasn't going to cry, or she didn't want to cry but she could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.

Willow looked to Buffy, from where she was currently having a conversation with Faith about her prom dress. "Buffy?"

"Yo, B." Faith looked at the blonde, worried, before walking towards her. "What's up?"

"My dress…" Buffy whispered, still holding the dress tightly. "It's paid for."

Faith grabbed the top of the dress bag to look at the dress inside. "That's the white one, how is it paid for? You had 100, that dress was like 300."

"She said…" Buffy trailed off. "She said someone with the last name Giles."

"Which one?" Willow asked, curiously. "At this point, all of them would help you, it could be anyone in the Giles family."

"Angel." Buffy whispered. "He's the only one that I told where I was getting my dress from."

0o0o0

Faith walked towards the basement door, after the girls hung their dresses in Buffy's room, the guys work truck was in the driveway so that meant that Xander was there, and probably Oz and Angel. Buffy would probably appreciate Angel being there, and from what Buffy had told her before, Willow liked Oz, or at least she used to before she went and started chatting with Malcolm. Faith didn't understand the whole attraction to meeting people online and being in a relationship with that person, you didn't know what they were actually like and she hadn't even seen this guy in person. Willow was nervous and excited, at the same time, to see Malcolm for the first time at prom.

"What are you guys doing?" Faith asked, walking down into the basement and looking at the guys questioningly. They were just standing there, looking at nothing.

"Admiring our work." Oz said with a small smile, until Angel turned when he heard Buffy talking to Willow. "And we're done."

Buffy smiled brightly. "Hey, Angel."

"Hey, Buffy." He smiled back, then motioned around the basement. "Do you like it?"

Shaking her head, she looked around the room, Angel had that way of sucking her in. "Wow, yeah. Are you guys done?"

Faith looked around the basement, it looked the same to her… okay, so there were hard wood floors and not so many wood board showing but did that mean they were done?

"Not yet." Oz nodded. "But almost."

"Hey! We did a lot of work!" Xander exclaimed, almost offended at the expression on Faith's face.

"We have to move the washer and dryer out of here to finish the flooring." Angel jumped in, looking at Buffy. "Your mom said to leave the ceiling as is."

"It's not even my mom's house, how can she tell you what to do?" Buffy smiled.

"Willy is already so happy that we have done what we have, he won't care if the ceiling is still exposed wood." Angel shrugged. "I actually think it looks pretty good exposed."

Xander nodded, even though he would have liked to finish it, he knew that Angel and Oz had more going on in their lives than he did and didn't have time to go to the Summers house every day. "We were thinking… a desk over here, since you want to be all school like…" He pointed to the far corner. "And you mentioned liking those organizational cubes, Buffy…" Xander pointed across the room. "I could build you some!"

"Or I could buy some at Walmart." Buffy laughed. "So much faster and cheaper."

"But you would have to pay for gas to drive all the way to the closest Walmart." Xander reminded her that they didn't have a Walmart in Sunnydale. "And what's cheaper than me building it for free?"

Buffy laughed again. "Xander, you have way too much time on your hands."

"Angel could help!" Xander volunteered his best friend, knowing full well that Buffy would love to have Angel around still. "Okay, not right away because he has finals, but he could help soon."

Angel shrugged at Buffy. "if you really wanted me to, I could after I finish school."

"You don't have to do that." Buffy said softly. "Um, Angel… can I talk to you?" Buffy nodded her head towards the stairs.

Angel followed her up the stairs, into the kitchen. "Am I in trouble?"

Buffy looked up and him and bit her lip. "It was you, wasn't it?" Angel raised his eyebrows at the blonde. "You bought my dress. The woman said the last name, on the card that was used, was Giles."

"Oh." Angel nodded.

"You didn't have to do that." She whispered.

Angel shrugged. "I want you to have the dress you want, not the dress you feel obligated to get."

"How did you know which dress it was that I wanted?" She questioned.

Angel let out a small laugh. "I asked the woman that worked there."

Buffy smiled up at him before wrapping her arms around his waist. She smiled even bigger when she felt his arms wrap around her. "Thank you." She whispered. "You've done enough"

"Not possible." He whispered, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"I'll pay you back." She said, still hugging him.

Angel shook his head. "No, you won't."

Buffy rolled her eyes playfully, he always did so much for her and never asked for anything in return. "So, if you guys are basically done with the basement, does that mean you won't be coming over anymore?"

Angel softly rubbed her back. "I'm sure I can find a reason to come over."

"Do you guys want to hang out tonight?" Buffy asked.

Angel eyed Buffy. "I'm not taking you to work?"

Buffy shook her head. "I called and I quit. Manny wasn't surprised, they have a lot of turnover."

"But there goes your chance at turning him into a children's book." Angel laughed.

Buffy hid her face in his chest and laughed.

0o0o0

"It isn't fair!" Faith pouted as Willow guided her out of the dining room towards the stairs.

"Faith." Willow said seriously, pointing to her face. "Resolve face."

"But…." Faith whined. "It's not fair that B gets to stay down here and watch a movie with hotties and I have to study!"

Buffy laughed. "Resolve face, Faith."

Willow nodded, pointing to the stairs. "Monday will be here before you know it, and no matter how much money you offer to pay me, I will NOT take the test for you."

"You don't have to take it for me." Faith reasoned. "Just hang out under the table and tell me the answers."

Willow shook her head. "Resolve face!"

Faith stomped her foot, and started to go up the stairs when she turned around to look at Buffy, Angel, Xander, and Oz getting comfortable in the living room. "That used to be my life."

Buffy heard what Faith had said and she rolled her eyes. It was true though, Faith got to hang out with Oz and Xander the last few nights when Buffy was working, after Willow had left for the night.

"Oh!" Willow shouted, running back out into the living room when her phone made an alert sound. "That's Malcolm!"

Buffy and the three guys watched in anticipation, but Willow simply read the message and quickly replied before happily running up the stairs to Buffy's room.

"She sure looks perky." Buffy noted, moving the bowl of popcorn more into the center of the coffee table. They had just ate Chinese food but it was Xander's idea to have popcorn while watching the movie.

Oz nodded. "Yeah, color in the cheeks, bounce in the step…" His nod turned into a shake. "I don't like it. It's not healthy."

"Check out the jealous man." Buffy laughed.

Oz shrugged. "What are you talking about?"

Buffy gave Oz a pointed look. "You are jealous."

"Of what?" Oz tried to play off.

"Willow's got a thang." Buffy smiled. "And you're left hanging."

Oz scoffed. "What? That's meaningless drivel. I'm not interested in Willow like that."

"Bull!" Buffy shook her head with a smile, sitting down next to Angel. "You like her! I know you do, I have heard you guys talking in the basement."

"What?" Angel asked, they had talked about a lot when they were working on her basement, and even though Buffy knew about his feelings now, he didn't know exactly everything that she had heard. "You... you did?"

Buffy nodded. "I heard about how Oz likes Willow and Cordelia was trying to impress you. And let me tell you, mister, Cordelia is just trying to impress you! Xander's underwear are more holy than Cordelia Chase."

"Hey!" Xander shouted.

Angel raised his eyebrows at the blonde. "How do you know how many holes his underwear has?"

"They aren't!" Xander shouted. "At least not since I bought new ones a few days ago."

"It's just an expression." Buffy smiled at Angel.

"No." Oz shook his head. "They are pretty holy."

Xander's shoulder sank in defeat, no one was listening to him.

"I'm just saying…" Buffy shrugged. "if you saw Cordelia at school then you would know…" Then she turned back to Oz. "You're jealous."

"It's just…" Oz shrugged. "This Malcolm guy… What's his deal? Tell me that you don't have a slight case of the wiggins?"

"Okay, slightly." Buffy nodded. "It's just, we don't know what he's actually like."

"Or who he actually is." Angel threw in.

"I mean, sure, he says he is a high school student." Buffy said, looking around at her three friends. "But I could say I'm a high school student."

Angel gave her a teasing smile. "You are."

"Okay." Oz nodded at Angel. "But Buffy could also say that she's an elderly Dutch woman, and who's to say that she's not if she's in the elderly Dutch woman chat room?"

"I get your point" Buffy nodded, with a slight smile but then turned serious. She was slightly on edge about this whole Malcolm thing, and yeah, she was concerned but she hadn't realized how much people could lie on the internet. "Oh. I get your point. This guy could be anyone. He could be weird, or crazy, or old, or… He could be a circus freak." Buffy started to panic. "He's probably a circus freak!"

"Yeah! I mean… we read about it all the time." Xander stood up, and sat back down in the chair with his leg underneath him. "Ya know, people meet on the net, they talk, they get together, have dinner, a show, horrible ax murder."

Buffy's mouth dropped open, she couldn't believe this was happening! Panic started to overtake the blondes body. "Willow ax murdered by a circus freak… okay, okay! What do you do?" Buffy felt Angel's hand on her back, gently rubbing small circles, which brought her back to reality. "Xander!" She threw a piece of popcorn at her friend across the room. "You get me started! We are totally overreacting, guys!"

Angel looked around the room at his friends, did that stuff really happen on the internet? He leaned in a little closer to Buffy. "You promise you don't get on the internet?"

"Not to talk to guys." She turned to look at Angel, she loved how close he was. "The only thing I do on the internet is Kids Min related." Angel smiled at her answer, then Buffy looked at her friends again. "I mean, I feel like I should be looking this guy up and getting more information about him, but I don't know how to go about doing that. Willow is the computer whiz."

"I could do it." Oz offered. "As long as you know his last name and some basic information about him."

Buffy shrugged. "The information I know about him is the basic of the basic. Last name Black, seventeen."

Oz thought for a minute. "Yeah, that's pretty generic stuff. I probably wouldn't get any hits on it. If you had a picture then it would work a lot better. There is a program where you can put in a picture and it will show you everywhere it is on the internet. All social media."

"That's the thing." Buffy leaning forward, closer to her friends. "He hasn't sent her a picture and she thinks that's okay because they care about each other." Buffy looked from Angel to Xander and back to Angel. "Please just tell me that you guys will be there when he shows up. It's really freaking me out." She turned back to Xander with an annoyed look. "Especially now, thanks Xander!"

Angel nodded. "Of course, we will."


	21. The Prom

Thank you for the reviews, they give me a happy! I hope you like this chapter, it's a little longer than previous chapters but I felt like it deserved it. lol I'm going to get to work on editing the next chapter of Determined by Fate for anyone who has been waiting on that.

Chapter 21: The Prom

Buffy stood in front of her floor length mirror, gently swaying in her flowing white dress. She couldn't believe this moment was here, she was going to prom, and with Angel! There was a time when she never thought she would go to prom, heck, there was a time when she didn't think she would make it this far in high school! Her life had certainly changed, it was odd that it was all because Principal Snyder had assigned her to community service. Turning around, Buffy let out a low whistle when Faith walked in to their bedroom. Faith smiled and spun around. Faith's black floor length dress fit her like a glove. Joyce had made a comment about the cutout sides, she couldn't help it, she was a mother, but she reasoned that at least the dress wasn't showing any other certain body parts.

"You look pretty smokin' too, B." Faith smiled, walking up behind Buffy. "You sure you can show that much cleavage though? You are a Christian now, and your date is practically a Priest."

"He's not a Priest, Faith." Buffy rolled her eyes playfully, turning back to the mirror. "He's almost a Youth Pastor." Buffy looked down at her chest, was she showing to much cleavage? She didn't feel uncomfortable. "He can still date, if he wants too."

"Wait, so Pastors can get married?" Faith asked, using the same mirror as Buffy to make sure all her hair was still in place. Unknowing to each other, all three girls had decided to put their hair up in buns, but luckily, they were different styles.

"Yes." Buffy laughed. "Pastor Giles is married to Jenny." Buffy turned around when she saw Willow's reflection in the mirror. "Anything yet?"

Willow shook her head with a worried expression. She had been waiting for Malcolm to show up for the past hour. "What is he's not coming?"

"Hey, if it makes you feel any better…" Faith shrugged. "Our dates aren't here either."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "I told Angel to come at 5:00, it's only 4:30."

"But… but I told Malcolm to come at 4:00 because then we could get to know each other before going to prom." Willow said nervously.

Buffy walked over to her best friend, taking her by the hands. Buffy didn't really like the thought of some strange guy having her address but she didn't want Willow to freak out any more than she already was. Plus, she was really hoping that Angel and Xander would get there before Malcolm, if she had known that Willow wanted him to come earlier then she would have asked Angel and Xander to come earlier too. Her mom was home, but she just felt safer if Angel was there. "Will, it's still early. Give it some time, just relax."

Willow nodded.

"To bad we don't have anything to drink." Faith sighed. "Then she would really relax."

"Faith!" Buffy exclaimed, she told her best friend multiple times that Willow didn't drink and neither did she… anymore.

Willow got an excited look on her face that was also mixed with fear when the doorbell rang.

"Girls!" Joyce called upstairs. "Angel and Xander are here!" Buffy had told her mom that Angel and Xander were just going with her and Faith as friends, which made Joyce feel better since they were both Christian boys. Joyce did, however, know all about Malcolm and that was why she made sure she was home when the girls were leaving for the prom. She didn't think it was a good idea for Willow to meet up with a boy she met online without an adult there. "Oh! Camera…" Joyce pointed out as she walked out of the foyer.

Faith was the first one to make it to the stairs, she smiled at Xander, who was staring at her with his mouth open. "Ay, caramba!" Xander mumbled, before tearing his eyes away from Faith and looking at Angel. "I recently learned that, you like it?"

"No." Angel shook his head, but smiled.

Faith laughed as she walked down the stairs, once she was in front of the two guys, she raised her eyebrow at Xander. She was pretty sure he was drooling. "B will be right down, she's talking Red off the ledge."

"Why?" Angel asked, worried. "What's wrong?"

Faith leaned forward, towards the guys. "Malcolm hasn't shown up." She whispered, then stood straight up again. "Apparently, Willow had asked him to come even earlier than Buffy thought she did, just so things weren't weird." When Faith noticed she had lost Angel's attention, she followed his eyes to the top of the stairs where Buffy was.

Angel felt like he couldn't breathe, form words, or even look away from Buffy. Her blonde hair was in a bun with a few strains of hair hanging down, her long white flowy dress had thick straps and the neckline was lower than he had ever seen Buffy wear, a thin gold sash rested just below her chest and she had white strappy high heels on. It was the cleavage peeking out of the neckline that was where he was going to get in trouble, he could see it now. Angel swallowed thickly.

"Angel! Breathe, man!" Xander exclaimed, slapping his friend in the stomach. "Breathe!"

"I… uh... o…" Angel shook his head, and Xander slapped him again. "I can't!"

"In…" Xander placed his hand on his best friend's shoulder and took a deep breath. "And out." Xander exhaled, to show Angel. "You okay, buddy? You gonna make it?"

Angel shook his head, as Buffy walked down the stairs. "She… she…" Angel gestured with his hands in front of him. "She has…"

"Yes, Buffy has boobs." Faith nodded. "She is a girl. Wait, is this the first time you have seen cleavage? Cause seriously, B's cleavage has some serious bang for a first timer."

Angel narrowed his eyes at Faith.

"Oh, wait." Faith laughed. "You walked in on her in the bathroom, you should be fine."

Buffy got to the bottom of the stairs, and walked over to Angel, she took one of his hands in hers and smiled up at him. "You look handsome." Sinfully so, no man should look that good in a classic tux.

"You…" Angel shook his head and smiled. He could do this, he could get the words out. "You look gorgeous."

Joyce walked back into the foyer with the camera and snapped a picture of her daughter and her date. "We should take pictures before it's time for you to leave." Joyce looked around. "Where is Willow?"

"She's still upstairs." Buffy told her mom. "She will be down, she just needs a sec."

Joyce frowned. "Is everything okay?"

Buffy nodded. "It will be, once Malcolm shows."

"Oh. No." Joyce shook her head, she knew exactly how that felt.

Angel raised his eyebrows, realizing he almost forgot something. Reaching over to the table beside the door, he grabbed a container. "Can't forget this." He smiled, opening a white rose corsage with thin gold ribbon and gently slipped it on her wrist.

"It's beautiful, Angel." Buffy smiled, Angel had told her several times in the past couple days that it was fine not to get him a boutonniere. "It matches my dress perfectly. Thank you."

Angel smiled at Buffy, then looked at Xander expectantly.

"Oh!" Xander exclaimed, turning around to grab his own container, with a red rose corsage in it, he held it out to Faith. "Angel made me get it."

Faith laughed as she put the corsage on herself.

Willow slowly walked down the stairs, once she got to the bottom of the stairs, Joyce rubbed her back to try to comfort her. "It will be okay, Sweetie. You know, homecoming, in my freshman year of college, I didn't have a date but I dressed up and went anyway."

Buffy was worried about her best friend, the whole reason they were going to prom was because of Willow and Malcolm. She hoped her mom had a happy ending that would get Willow feeling better. "Was it awful?"

"Yes, it was awful." Joyce nodded. "For about an hour."

Buffy gave her mom a small smile. "Then what happened?"

Joyce laughed. "I met your father."

Buffy looked up at Angel, then to her mom. "He didn't have a date either?"

"No." Joyce took a deep breath, and shook her head. "He did. And that is a much funnier story that you will NOT get to hear. The point is, I went anyway and it wasn't the end of the world, I had fun."

Suddenly, Willow's phone went off in her hand and she smiled excitedly. "It's Malcolm!"

Joyce dropped her hand to her side. "Well, at least she is happier."

Buffy laughed at her mom.

"Okay, come on!" Joyce motioned for Buffy, Angel, Faith and Xander to stand closer. "Let's take pictures."

Willow walked back in the foyer, with a small smile on her face. "He's running late because of traffic, he said he will meet us at the school."

"Oh, but then I won't be able to get pictures of you guys!" Joyce exclaimed.

Buffy shook her head, wrapping her arm around Angel's waist to pose for her mother. "We will take picture of them for you, mom." She glanced up at Angel and whispered. "Are you sure you want to do this right? This picture thing with my mom might just be torture."

Angel shook his head. "No, not torture. Not if I'm with you."

"Sweet boy." She whispered, laying her head on his chest as her mother took pictures and then instructed them to get into another pose.

"Okay, now Xander and Angel, stand behind the girls with your arms around their waist." Joyce smiled, holding up her camera. "Classic prom pose." She smiled at the picture on her digital camera. "You guys are getting the pictures done when you get there too, right?"

Buffy shook her head, did those professional pictures cost money? "Mom, I don't think…"

"Yes, we are, Mrs. Summers." Angel smiled.

"Great!" Joyce gushed. "Now, when you take pictures of Willow and Malcolm, make sure to take the same poses that we just did, that way we can edit the pictures and make it look like you are all together. Wouldn't that be cool?"

Buffy raised her eyebrows at her mom, she loved her mom, she really did, but she was getting crazy with this whole prom thing.

"How about just the three girls now?" Joyce asked, the boys stepped out of the way as the girls started striking different poses for the pictures. "And now just the boys."

Angel shook his head, as Xander ran back over to where they were taking pictures. "Come on, Angel, 007!" Xander's obsession with James Bond was on the verge of scary.

After taking pictures in every pose that Joyce could think of, she finally let the five of them leave the house. Buffy paused when they stepped outside, looking towards the road. Angel's car wasn't there. "Please tell me that the neighbors just got married."

"The neighbors are old, B." Faith shook her head. "That would be gross."

Buffy turned to Angel. "Please tell me you didn't…"

"Angel thought it would be cool to go to prom in a limo!" Xander laughed, and ran in front of his friends.

Angel smiled down at Buffy. "Be a princess, just for tonight."

"Be my prince?" Buffy smiled, holding her hand out to him. "Just for tonight."

Angel took her hand in his. "For as long as you want me."

Buffy smiled as Angel helped her into the limo. Forever, how does forever sound?

When Angel got in the limo, the door shut behind him, he and Buffy both looked at Xander and Faith in shock when they saw them kissing. Xander felt eyes on them and he broke away from the kiss. "What? I'm not as saved as him!" He exclaimed, pointing to Angel. "I'm weak!"

"She's sixteen!" Buffy exclaimed, how come her and Angel had to wait but Xander and Faith didn't have to? Faith is younger than she is!

Angel rolled his eyes and shook his head, as he looked out the window, he didn't want to see his best friend making out with his date. He smiled, turning back to Buffy when he felt her lace her fingers with his. Holding hands was good too.

Willow bounced giddily on the limo seat, Malcolm was going to be at the school. She was finally going to meet him! They had been talking on the internet and then texting for a couple weeks, and now that the time was here, she was really excited and also nervous. "I gotta pee."

Buffy laughed at her red headed best friend, then made a grossed-out face when she could hear Xander and Faith kissing. They shouldn't get to kiss because she couldn't kiss Angel. This totally isn't fair!

0o0o0

Cordelia narrowed her eyes at a limo pulling up to the school, Cordelia, her friends and their dates were the only ones that could show up in a limo, it was an unwritten rule! Crossing her arms, impatiently, she waited for the couple to get out of the limo.

"Come on." Kevin smiled at Cordelia, he had finally gotten her to go to prom with him, he heard that she had her mind set on a couple other people to go to prom with but they didn't go to high school and she would have to ask them. He knew that Cordelia never asked a guy out, so he took the opportunity.

Cordelia shook her head, tapping her high heel clad foot. Why were these people taking forever? The brunette scoffed, they were probably having sex in the back of the limo, people at this school were so skeezy! The limo driver made his way to the back of the limo and opened the door, Cordelia craned her neck so that she could see the people better. Cordelia gasped and started to panic when she saw Angel climb out of the limo, turning around to offer his hand to someone. Why was Angel here? He was in college! She didn't think in a million years that he would go to a high school prom! If she thought for even a second that he would then she would have sucked up her pride and asked him herself. She looked down at her dress, with its deep plunging neckline and slit all the way up her thigh, she couldn't let Angel see her like this, it would ruin the whole image that she had made for him and everyone else at the church! Cordelia quickly walked into the school, grabbing Kevin's hand, trying to act as normal as possible. Great, now she was going to have to hide from Angel all night!

Xander climbed out of the limo and looked around the school, he never wanted to step inside that school again but Faith was worth it.

Angel rolled his eyes at his best friend when Xander didn't help Faith out of the limo. Xander often complained that he didn't have a girlfriend, but maybe he would have one if he paid more attention. The driver offered Faith his hand, then Willow as they got out of the limo.

Willow looked around the parking lot for Malcolm. "Do you see him?"

"Him who?" Xander asked.

Buffy rolled her eyes, did Xander not remember their conversation about Willow being ax murdered? "Will, it would probably help if we actually knew what he looked like."

Willow's eyes suddenly got large. "Oh my… Buffy! I don't even know what he looks like! How am I supposed to know that I'm going to prom with the right person?"

Faith chuckled. "This is a small town, right?" She shrugged. "Anyone you don't recognize, probably him."

"We will wait with you." Buffy whispered, laying her head on Willow's shoulder.

Willow scanned the parking lot, once again. "I don't want you guys to miss too much of the prom."

"There gonna be food here?" Xander asked, suddenly realizing that Angel didn't let him eat dinner before they picked up the girls. Angel was too focused on making sure everything was perfect.

"Oh course, there is gonna be food!" Faith lightly slapped Xander on his arm, then turned to Buffy seriously. "There is going to be food, right, B?"

Buffy nodded with a soft laugh. "Yes, they said there was going to be food."

"But we are still going out to eat afterwards, right?" Xander asked, seriously. "When me and Oz went to prom, we went out to eat afterwards."

Angel closed his eyes, letting out a sigh. Leave it to Xander to be worried about food, and it seemed like Faith had picked the perfect date because she was worried about food too.

0o0o0

The group had waited outside for forty-five minutes, they had seen so many beautiful dresses being worn by countless high schoolers. Xander was starting to get bored, while Buffy, Faith and Angel were feeling concerned for Willow. Malcolm still hadn't showed up.

"Will." Buffy whispered, lightly rubbing Willows arm. "Do you want to wait inside? Maybe dance a little, while we wait?"

Willow thought for a moment, she looked down at her dress, then she remembered that she wasn't used to wearing heels and in all her stressing over Malcolm, she didn't realize that her feet were killing her from standing for so long. She looked to her best friend and nodded.

"Okay." Buffy whispered again, wrapping her arm around Willow as they walked towards the entrance of the school.

"Willow…?" Someone called from behind them.

Willow and all her friends turned around to look at who had called her name. "Who… who are you?" Willow and her friends looked at the man concerned, he was nothing like Willow had envisioned. He was an older, short man, with slightly graying hair. "Are you… are you Malcolm?"

The man nodded. "Sorry, I couldn't get here sooner."

Buffy scowled at the man, this was exactly why you need to confirm that someone is real when you meet them online.

"You must be Buffy." Malcolm smiled. "Willow told me a lot about you."

This time, Angel scowled, he didn't like it that this older man knew anything about Buffy. What kind of guy that must be in his thirties would be talking to a high school student online? This guy was sick. Stepping up closer to Buffy, Angel put his arm around Buffy's shoulder.

"I… I thought…" Willow looked confused. "I thought you were younger… you said seventeen."

Malcolm nodded. "I did, I used my sons age. I just wanted you to like me."

"Son?!" Willow and Buffy exclaimed at the same time.

"And what?" Faith glared at the man, walking towards him. She was pissed, she didn't understand why someone would want to have an online relationship, especially someone as cool as Willow, but she still wanted it to work out for the red head. "Did your WIFE stop you from getting here on time?"

Malcolm nodded. "She doesn't know that I talk to girl…"

Malcolm didn't get to finish, because Faith kneed him in the groin. He doubled over in pain, gasping.

"Oh!" Xander and Angel cringed at the same time.

"Come on, Red." Faith turned around, grabbing Willow by the hand, and walking into the school. Willow was going to have a good time, no matter what. "Maybe we will get lucky and somebody already spiked the punch."

"Woah." Xander shook his head. "Willow got catfished."

Angel shook his head, he had never heard that before. "What does that mean?"

"You know, the show on MTV." Xander tried to explain. "It's when someone lies to get someone into an online relationship." He motioned to Angel. "Hey! We could be Nev and Max! Tracking down them catfish! Well, I would have to be Nev." Xander motioned to Angel's hair. "Because you know, Max has grey hair."

0o0o0

Willow suddenly stopped dancing with Faith, she didn't want to fake having a good time. How could she have been so stupid? She had told a guy that she didn't even know, all about her life, not just all about her life but about Buffy and her friends too. She walked over to the table where the girls' purses were, and sat down sadly.

Buffy stopped dancing with Angel, stepping back, she held up her pointer finger. "Just one sec."

"Of course." Angel nodded, he completely understood that Willow was hurting. He wished things had worked out better for Willow, and he hoped they were about to get better for her. As much as he wanted Willow to have fun tonight, he also wanted to have fun with Buffy.

"You okay, Will?" Buffy asked, sitting next to her best friend, as Faith sat on the other side of Willow.

Willow shrugged. "I think I'm just going to go home. This was a bad idea."

"Red." Faith shook her head, as Willow stood up to gather her things.

Buffy and Faith both stood up, watching Willow. Buffy looked over to Angel and frowned, she didn't know what else to do, they had tried everything. Looking around, Buffy smiled. "Willow…" She whispered.

The redhead sighed, she knew that Buffy and Faith were just going to try to make her stay. "What, Buffy?"

Buffy nodded towards the entrance, causing Willow and Faith to look in that direction. Willow's mouth dropped open when she saw Oz looking right at her, wearing a tux and holding a plastic container in his hand.

Willow looked at both of her friends, then back to Oz, the two girls gave Willow a slight push towards Oz, before she started walking on her own.

"Hey." Willow whispered as she made it over to the red headed man.

"Sorry, I'm late." Oz smiled, with a shrug. "I wanted to get you…" He held out a red orchid corsage. "I figured the red would go perfectly with your hair."

Willow smiled at the shorter man. "You like my hair?"

"Of course." Oz motioned to his own red hair. "It's like fire."

Willow laughed, as Oz put the corsage on her wrist. She felt like she was going to cry, but this time for a whole different reason. The guy she had been crushing on for several years had showed up at prom for her, after her original date had been the complete opposite of what she thought. How did Oz know though?

Buffy walked over to Angel, who was smiling at his best friend and Willow. "Did you…?"

Angel turned to Buffy and shrugged. "She deserves to have a good time."

"You, Angel Giles…" She smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck. "…are amazing."

Angel shook his head, placing his hands on her waist, as they slowly started to sway to the music. "Anyone would have done it."

"No." She whispered, leaning her head against his chest, as the lyrics to Wild Horses began to play, and Buffy couldn't help but think wild horses never could drag her away from Angel. "They wouldn't."

Willow smiled excitedly as she danced with Oz, nearby Buffy and Angel, she gave Buffy an enthusiastic thumb up. Buffy smiled happily at her friend, giving her a thumb up back.

If even for tonight, life was good. Buffy was getting her normal teenager experience with the guy she loved, even if they couldn't technically be together until she was eighteen, and tomorrow they had to go back to being friends. Tonight, she just wanted to pretend that they were a couple.

Cordelia has been successfully avoiding Angel all night, in fact, she hadn't even seen him since he climbed out of the limo, even though she was curious as to who his date was, she was happy that he hadn't gotten a glimpse of her in her dress. Angel didn't know what she was really like, and she wanted to keep it that way. Cordelia rolled her eyes, she couldn't believe that Kevin actually brought her punch to drink! Didn't he know if she spilt that on her dress it would ruin the whole night? Or if she drank it and it left some horrible red stain on her mouth! Cordelia stopped walking, her mouth dropped open in shock when she saw Angel Giles on the dance floor with Buffy Summers in his arms. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw that his head was resting on Buffy's head but his eyes were locked with hers, his eyebrows raised. She started to panic and turned around to leave the school gym.

Buffy lifter her head from Angel's chest and whispered. "You okay?"

Angel smiled down at her, lightly tracing her jawline with his thumb. "Yeah, perfect. You?"

"Equally as perfect." She smiled, she didn't remember ever being this happy, or this content. She could stay in his arms forever and it wouldn't be long enough. "Thank you for coming with me."

Angel shook his head, still smiling. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

0o0o0

"Are the guys still in the bathroom?" Buffy asked, smiling at her two friends, as she sat down. "I thought us girls would be the ones that took forever… big dresses and all."

Faith laughed. "I think Xander ate something bad."

Willow laughed and shook her head. Tonight, had certainly turned around for her. "I think all the food here is bad."

"Good thing we are going out to eat after prom." Buffy smiled, as she got up.

Faith looked at her questioningly. "Where you goin'?"

"To make sure our dates didn't fall into the urinals." Buffy laughed.

"Eh." Faith shrugged. "My date probably fell in the toilet."

Buffy laughed, holding up her dress slightly so that she didn't step on it, walking out of the school gym. She smiled when she saw Angel looking at the trophy box. "Hey, what are you doing out here?"

Angel smiled at Buffy. "Xander is having some issues."

Buffy laughed. "Fall in the toilet?"

Angel laughed softly and shook his head. "Not when I left, but who knows now."

"Faith is convinced that he fell in." Buffy pointed to the bathroom door, but walked towards Angel. "You should probably be in there and help Oz get him out."

Angel nodded. "I think Oz has it covered."

"Have you seen the size difference between Xander and Oz?" Buffy laughed, but when Angel didn't she started to get worried. "Hey, what's up?"

Angel shook his head. "Nothing."

Buffy gave him a pointed look. "Don't nothing me. I know something it up, Angel, what is it?"

Angel took a deep breath, shaking his head. "You know, my parents never kissed when they were dating, they said it was too much of a temptation, but they didn't force that choice on me. They said I had to find what worked best for me… I made this choice a long time ago that I wouldn't kiss a girl without dating her and I wouldn't date a girl without knowing for a fact that I would marry her."

Buffy looked at Angel, confused. "Angel, what are you…" Buffy was cut off when Angel took her face in his hands, gently kissing her. Buffy was surprised but it only took her a second to respond, she had kissed Pike before, but it was nothing like Angel. Angel was so gentle, she could barely feel his lips on hers at first, and it sent shivers all through her body. She smiled against his lips as she realized he tasted like chocolate and mint. Angel pulled away from her, but Buffy didn't open her eyes right now. "Peppermint pattie." She whispered. Oh. I shouldn't have said that… but the mint chocolatey perfection.

Angel raised his eyebrow at Buffy, waiting. "How was that?"

Buffy slowly opened her eyes, with a small smile and whispered. "Butterfly producing." Angel smiled, glancing down at the floor, then back up at Buffy when he heard her speak again. "Angel, was that your first kiss?" He had mentioned that he didn't want to kiss a girl, without dating her and he had never dated anyone before, it had to have been his first kiss.

Angel nodded, unsure of what she would think.

Buffy smiled a little wider, placing her hands around his neck, she played with the short hairs on the back of his head. "How about a second one?"

Angel laughed before leaning back down to kiss her again, resting his hands on her hips. Buffy pouted when he pulled away from her, cutting the kiss short, she looked over towards the bathroom where Oz and Xander came out of the bathroom bickering.

"If you would just get rid of the watch all together, it wouldn't have fallen in the toilet." Oz reasoned with Xander.

Xander sighed. "How would I know what time it was if I didn't have my watch?"

"Oh, I don't know, a cell phone." The shorter man shrugged. "And why is your watch Tweety Bird? Correct me if I'm wrong but you are almost twenty-one."

"Don't knock my Tweety Bird!" Xander exclaimed, then looked towards his other best friend and his date. "Angel, he's knocking my Tweety Bird!"

Angel shrugged. "Maybe it's time to get a big boy watch."

Buffy laughed, looking up at Angel. She really loved that man.

Xander looked at his two friends, Buffy had her hands resting on Angel's shoulders and he had his hands on her waist. "Are you guys dancing out here?" He asked confused, shaking his head, he started to walk towards the gym entrance. "The music is in there…"

Angel took Buffy by the hand, and joined Oz and Xander as they made their way back to Willow and Faith in the gym. Xander turned to Faith, maybe Oz was right and he should do something for Faith. Apparently, when Angel called Oz about what had happened with Willow and Malcolm, he had told Oz that Xander didn't even help Faith out of the limo or put her corsage on her. "Drink?"

Faith looked at Xander oddly, was he seriously going to wait on her now? Looking to Buffy, the blonde gave her a nod, she knew Faith wasn't used to a guy doing anything for her and she would need a little push. In the three years, she had been dating Benny, the most he did for her was open a bottle of vodka and take a drink out of it before handing it to her. "Sure, why not."

"Buffy." Angel smiled. "Would you like a drink too?"

Buffy shrugged. "Sure."

Angel turned to walk away, but Buffy was hesitant to let go of his hand for a moment. Angel smiled wider at her and he whispered. "I will be right back."

Oz smiled at Willow, he was happy to be here with her tonight and would gladly wait on her hand and foot. "Would you like anything, Willow?"

Willow smiled at Oz. "Whatever they are getting."

Oz nodded before following his two best friends over to where the food and drinks were laid out on a table on the other side of the school gym.

Faith looked around at all the students dancing, then turned to Buffy as the blonde sat down. "You know, you and Angel look all cute together out there. With you wearing all white, you know…" Faith clicked her tongue twice. "You kind of look like a bride."

Buffy laughed at her friend's comment, then she remembered what Angel had said, he didn't want to kiss a girl without dating her and he didn't want to date her without knowing he would marry her. Were they dating now? But she wasn't officially eighteen for another ten days. More importantly, did he just propose to her? Okay, so it wasn't in the traditional way, but he definitely hinted at it! Normally, she would be overly excited to tell her friends what had happened in the hallway but she was still seventeen and Angel was twenty-one, she didn't want him to get into any trouble. "Faith… I think it's a little soon to be talking about that."

"You know, I was thinking a princess." Willow thought for a moment. "But now that you mention it, Faith. I can see the bride."

"You guys…" Buffy smiled, getting married wasn't something that used to be on her to-do list, but since meeting Angel a month and a half ago, it was something that she had thought of several times. She even had the name 'Buffy Giles' scribbled on her school notebooks.

The girls looked up when they heard a gasp. "What are you doing here?" Harmony Kendell demanded, pointing at Faith.

"You sold me a ticket, remember?" Faith lied.

Harmony thought for a second. "Oh yeah!" She laughed, then walked away.

"Airhead." Faith shook her head, pointing at the ditzy blonde.

Buffy smiled happily when she saw Angel making his way back over to the table they were sitting at, she really wanted to kiss him again but she knew there were way too many people. The one thing they could do though, was dance, at least then she would feel his arms around here. Angel handed her the fruit punch, and she took a sip out of it before setting it down and taking his hand. "Come on."

"You don't want your drink anymore?" Angel asked, as she pulled him towards the dance floor.

Buffy shook her head, smiling. "I want to dance with you more."

Angel laughed, as they found an open space on the dance floor. "And why is that?" He asked, taking her in his arms.

"Because then your arms are around me." She smiled brightly. "And that's the only place I want to me." Buffy quietly sang along with the lyrics to Everywhere by Michelle Branch, to Angel. "When I touch your hand, it's then I understand, the beauty that's within, you always light my way, I hope there never comes a day, no matter where I go… I always feel you so. Cause you're everywhere to me and when I close my eyes it's you I see. You're everything that makes me believe, I'm not alone."

Angel smiled, and had the urge to kiss her, he had only kissed her twice and he found that it was addicting. Now, he knew why his parents had decided not to kiss until their wedding day. "Buffy…"

"Hmm?" She asked, looking up at him, smiling.

"I just…" Angel trailed off. "I feel like my parents are going to be upset that we kissed… we told my parents and your mom that we were just going to prom as friends. And not to mention, you are only seventeen."

"We did go to prom as just friends." She nodded.

Angel shook his head. "But we aren't leaving as just friends."

Buffy smiled again. Did that mean they were a couple? "Okay, so what if we don't tell them?" At the look on Angel's face, Buffy continued. "Don't lie, that's a sin, but just… don't tell them. I mean, if they come right out and say, 'did you kiss at prom' then sure, tell them."

"So, if they don't ask then don't tell?" Angel asked.

Buffy nodded again. "It's not lying, it's just not getting all extracurricular with the details."

Angel nodded, he thought he could do that. He had never actually kept something from his parents before but at the same time, they didn't know every detail of his life. "I really want to kiss you right now." He whispered.

Buffy let out a breath of relief. "Oh, thank God! It's not just me!"

"Here…" He glanced around the gym at all the other students having fun and dancing. "…probably isn't the best place."

"I would be more than happy to go make out with you in a broom closet." Buffy suggested. "I have never done it before, but I hear it's the new 'in' thing."

Angel shook his head and laughed, before leaving the dance floor, holding Buffy's hand.

Walking a little way down the hallway, Angel opened a door, allowing Buffy to go in first. Buffy looked around the classroom that Angel had picked. "Or we could make the science room the new 'in' thing." She laughed, turning around in front of a table. "This is my seat."

Placing his hands on her hips, he gently lifted her up, helping her on to the table, and he stood between her legs, as she wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him down for a kiss. When Angel broke away from the kiss, Buffy smiled sarcastically. "Mmm, Dr. Gregory would just love this."

"Yeah?" Angel laughed, bending down for another kiss.

0o0o0

Buffy, Angel, Willow, Oz, Faith and Xander all sat around the circular table at the restaurant, it was one of the many restaurants in Sunnydale that stayed open on prom night thanks to an organization called SADD: Students Against Drunk Driving that organized safe activities to do after the prom had ended and designated drivers for those who needed a ride. One the way to the restaurant, Angel had told Buffy that he was a part of the SADD team when he was in high school so he knew which restaurants were the good ones to go too.

Angel smiled at the young waitress that brought them their late-night food, then smiled at Buffy when he felt her take his hand under the table. They seemed to do a lot of under the table hand holding, and he assumed it would continue to happen until her birthday, when they could officially be out in the open.

"You guys disappeared for a while there." Xander noted, eating his nachos.

Buffy and Angel looked at each other, what had felt like a quick make out session to them had actually been almost an hour and they had only stopped because they could no longer hear the loud music being played in the gym. They were both shocked that prom was already over. "We went to… talk." Buffy volunteered. It wasn't a lie, there was some talking…. A very little amount of talking but there was still talking!

"You couldn't talk in the gym?" Willow asked.

Angel looked to his friends, then glanced at Buffy out of the corner of his eye. "Too loud."

Faith smiled at the pair, if Angel wasn't so gung-ho on being the son of a preacher, and even a preacher himself, she would have thought they went to make out or have sex like so many of the other students at prom. Sadly, for anyone that was interested in a Christian, that wasn't going to happen, poor Buffy would have to wait until she was married to get any kind of action. Suddenly, the smile fell from Faith's face, Xander was a Christian and she was interested in him. She wouldn't be able to have sex? She didn't know if she could handle that. Looking over at Xander, she shook her head, he had said he wasn't as saved as Angel, maybe that meant he was open to it. "What are we doing tomorrow?" Faith asked, eating a fry.

Everyone looked at her like she was crazy.

Faith shrugged, looking at Xander watch, she shook her head when it seemed to be stuck at 11:07PM, so she glanced down at her phone. "Okay, so it's technically today."

Buffy raised her eyebrows at Faith. "Church, and you are coming with."

"What?" Faith asked, she didn't sign up for that.

The blonde nodded. "You don't have to stay all day, just go to one service. Tomorrow is my first official day working, don't you want to support me?"

Faith narrowed her eyes at the blonde, Buffy knew that Faith would always support her no matter what. "That was a low blow, B… I admire it."

Buffy smiled in victory. "Plus, you can help me keep an eye out for Gary. I invited him I don't even know how many times."

"Who?" Xander asked with his mouth full.

Willow thought for a second. "That guy that you worked with at The DoubleMeat Palace?"

Buffy nodded. "I really thought I was making a break through with him."

Angel shook his head. "Really? I didn't see any."

Buffy pouted, and once again, Angel had the urge to kiss her.


	22. Buffy's Day Off

TheSlayer96- I love your review!

Guest- Oh, the kissage! Haha

Allison117- Malcolm is a creep! He was a creepy in the show and a creep in my story. LOL Thank you for the review!

My classes officially start back up tomorrow, but I hope the first week will be something simple and I can keep writing for at least the first week, but you never know with Managerial Accouting. Hopefully chapter 23 will be coming soon! Thank you all so much for the reviews, I love reading them, and thank you for the follows and favorites on this story.

Chapter 22: Buffy's Day Off

Buffy laughed as she watched Xander run ahead of them, through the sand and into the ocean, screaming. She felt slightly guilty about being at the beach in the middle of the week but Jenny had told her to take some time and be with her friends. She had only been officially working at the church for four days and Jenny was already telling her to take a day off! Jenny had told her that even though she was working at the church, she was still a teenager and needed to have fun. Xander had suggested the beach, which gave her the sneaking suspicion that he only suggested that so he could see Faith in a bathing suit. Faith avoided Buffy when she asked if she and Xander were a couple, she thought maybe it was because Faith and Xander didn't seem to care about their ages and she didn't want to flaunt it in front of Buffy and Angel. Faith would be seventeen in just under a month and Angel had told her that Xander would be twenty-one in October. Before prom, Faith had told Buffy that she technically didn't have any parents that cared what she did, which Buffy had given her a pointed look because Joyce was smothering Faith, especially since Faith had taken her placement testing and thanks to Willow's tutoring and a lot of prayer, Faith was placed at the Tenth-Grade education level by the skin of her teeth.

Angel smiled over at Buffy, as they walked. Angel carried her beach bag for her, Xander had looked at him like he was crazy when he automatically took Buffy's bag from his car. Angel was happy Buffy had called him and asked if he wanted to go to the beach with them. She knew that today was the day that he had to give his sermon and he needed time to unwind afterwards. "Buffy, it's okay!" Angel laughed at her, putting his arm around her shoulder. "My mom told you to take the afternoon off, relax."

Buffy shrugged. "It feels weird, I feel like I should always be at the church."

"That's because you have a servant's heart." He rubbed her arm.

Buffy raised her eyebrows at him from under her sunglasses, as they walked. "Meaning?"

"Rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man." Angel smiled. "Ephesians 6:7. The work that you do at Awaken is all in God's glory, everything that you do there is allowing God's Kingdom to grow by teaching the kids about His love."

Buffy smiled up at him. "It's so sexy when you get all Biblical."

"Oh, really?" Angel laughed. "In that case… Kiss me, and kiss me again, for your love is sweeter than wine."

"I know that is Song of Solomon!" Buffy laughed, jumping in front of him, causing him to stop walking towards their friends. "It's at the beginning…." Buffy thought for a moment. "Verse 1:2?"

Angel nodded and smiled. He was proud of how far she had come.

"And don't talk about kissing." Buffy scolded him, as she hopped back next to him to walk further towards the ocean. "It makes me want to kiss you even more."

Angel let out a sigh. "I know the feeling." Since prom they had snuck kisses here and there in private but that was it and occasionally when she went to his dorm to see him. He wished they could do more, he was addicted, but he didn't know if kissing was his drug or if Buffy was. Looking over at her, he smiled, she was definitely his drug.

Once they made it to where their friends had left all their stuff, Angel set Buffy's bag down. He watched her as she laid out a towel and he grabbed his towel out of her bag. "Are you going in?" He asked her, taking his shirt off over his head as she sat down.

Buffy readjusted her sunglasses and shook her head.

Angel sat next to her in the sand, not bothering with a towel. "Buffy, we came to the beach for a reason. All of our friends are out there." He pointed to their friends splashing in the water. "Swimming and having fun. Why don't you want to go out there?"

"Because that includes taking this dress off." She pointed to the white bathing suit cover dress she was wearing.

"Okay?" Angel said questioningly. "People don't normally swim in their clothes."

Buffy looked at him over her sunglasses. "You remember what I told you about me before? How I was like? I wasn't promiscuous, but I wasn't exactly shy with what I wore, and I haven't been able to go and buy a new bathing suit."

Angel raised his eyebrows at her. Did that mean her bathing suit was revealing? He already had a hard time keeping his thoughts in check around her to begin with, he didn't know what he would do if he saw even more of her than he already had. "So… so, that means your bathing suit is…"

"Small would be a good way to describe it." She turned to look at Willow in her one-piece bathing suit, she would kill for that right now.

Angel shook his head and cleared his throat. "Okay, so, maybe we should go buy you a new one. We can go right now if you want to."

Buffy shook her head. "I'm not allowed to go shopping without my mom present, which is why many of the clothes I have now is because of your mom."

"Why can't you go shopping without your mom?" He wondered.

Buffy sighed again, he already knew she used to get in trouble a lot, she didn't really want to repeat it. "Let's just say, my method of purchasing was a five-finger discount and I got caught." Angel turned to look out into the ocean and then nodded. "I hate that, that's how I used to be but I can't change that and I hate it even more that you know about it."

Angel turned back to the blonde, questioningly. "Why?"

"Because you are all perfect and I'm all… not." She shrugged.

"Buffy." Angel turned on his side to see her more clearly. "Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. Your past doesn't define you, but it does shape you. I'm fine with who you used to be, that person is a part of you, but it's not all of you. And you are an amazing person."

"Yeah?" Buffy asked, as she bit her lip. "Well, I'm more of a sinner than a saint judging by the thoughts I have been having since you took your shirt off."

"Really? Wait, no." He shook his head, taking her hand in his. "So, do you want to go buy a new bathing suit, I mean, I'm pretty sure I could pull off going into a store for you and getting a bathing suit or you could just go swimming in what you are wearing."

Buffy shrugged. "I think I'm just going to lay here for a little while. I don't know if you have noticed…" Buffy laughed. "…but I am pretty white and it probably wouldn't kill me to have a tan."

"Yeah." Angel agreed, settling back next to her. "I could use a tan too. Oz tells me I could blind a person."

Buffy laughed and they both laid back in silence, soaking up the sun for a few minutes before Buffy turned her head to Angel and smiled. "Angel, I think I know what I want to do when I grow up."

Angel laughed and turned his head to look at her. "Oh yeah, and what is that?"

"You said people normally have college and stuff figured out by now, right?" She smiled at him. "I'm thinking about applying at USC, I know it's really expensive so if I get my grades up even more then I could try to get a scholarship, Willow told me about this test I can take and if I score within a certain range then the likelihood of getting a scholarship is even higher. I have to take the test by a certain date though… Willow knows the exact date, I should probably know that, but anyway, I already signed up to take the test. And I would probably have to join a club or a team for senior year, but Sunnydale High has a lot of those."

"You really want to go to University of Sunnydale?" Angel asked, he had hoped that Buffy would stick around Sunnydale after high school but he didn't know for sure if she would. It was a really small town, after all.

Buffy nodded. "I mean, there are other college that I could apply at, it's just USC has a really good program for what I want to go for."

"And what is that?"

"I want to get my Master's." She replied, bouncing her foot lightly where she laid. "With a major in Elementary Ministry Education."

"Really?" Angel asked, excitedly, rolling over on his side again.

Buffy smiled and nodded. "Really!"

Angel laughed, grabbing Buffy and rolling over with her on his chest. Settling with her on the sand, he leaned over her, quickly giving her a kiss. "You really want to go into Ministry?"

"Yes!" Buffy laughed. "It's where my heart is…. Well, God and you."

"God always comes first." Angel agreed.

"Hmmm." She nodded. "This way, I can screw them up when they're little, then pass them on to you and you can teach them the real way and then you pass them on to your dad."

"Buffy, you aren't going to screw them up." Angel laughed. "The kids at church love you."

"The feeling is mutual." She giggled.

"The kids aren't the only ones that love you…" He whispered. "I love you, Buffy."

Buffy bit her lip and smiled. "I love you too, Angel." She whispered. Angel smiled brightly at her, before kissing her. Buffy held him close to her, her least favorite part of kissing Angel was when it was over. Buffy pouted when he pulled away. "Is it crazy that we aren't even officially dating yet and we already love each other?"

Angel shook his head. "I loved you the moment I laid eyes on you."

Buffy gasped. "What?! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know for sure that you were interested in me." Angel shrugged. "Not until you were staying at my parent's house and my mom told me."

"Your mom knew?" Buffy gasped. "I never told her a name of the guy!"

"My mom knows all." He said seriously, then smiled. "My dad on the other hand… he knew nothing."

"But he does now?" Buffy asked.

Angel nodded. "Total shock."

Buffy laughed, then look above her head and tried to look past Angel's shoulders where their friends were in the water. "Do you think anyone saw that kiss?"

"I don't know." Angel glanced around the beach, when he didn't see anyone looking, he kissed her again.

"Okay." Buffy whispered, placing her hands on his chest. She would definitely be dreaming about a shirtless Angel tonight. "Do you want to swim?"

Angel nodded, climbing off her and holding his hand out to help her up. Once she was standing she took her dress off and tossed it on a pile of her friend's clothes. Angel swallowed thickly. She wasn't joking when she had said her bathing suit was small. The small red triangles were just barely big enough to cover her chest, and were only held up by a tiny string going around her neck. When she turned around to walk towards the water, he silently wondered where the rest of the bottoms to her bathing suit were. He paused, taking a minute to say a prayer and apologize for any lustful thoughts he was having or may have in the future when it came to Buffy.

"Coming?" Buffy called back to him.

0o0o0

"Did you see Willow and Oz at the beach?" Buffy smiled as she walked down the hallway of Sunnydale University with Angel. "Total cuteness!"

Angel smiled, as he reached out to grab her hand. "They were pretty cute."

"Are we allowed to hold hands here?" Buffy whispered. "Is anyone going to tell on us?"

Angel looked around, then back to Buffy. "I think we can do whatever we want here." He took a step closer to her, smiling down at her before he kissed her softly.

"Mmmm." Buffy smiled. "Yummy."

Angel eyed her for a moment. "You know, there is something I have been meaning to ask you… at prom, you said Peppermint Patty. I mean, I like The Peanuts as much as anyone else that grew up on Snoopy, but that wasn't really the reaction I was hoping for."

"Wrong patty!" Buffy laughed, kissing him again. "You taste like chocolate and mint. Pure perfection."

Angel thought for a moment and then shrugged. "That's a better reaction."

"Yeah?" Buffy laughed before kissing him again. It was like she could never get enough. Taking a deep breath, she really needed to focus. "Okay, so I have to take the PSAT…"

Angel nodded. "And for USC, you have to take either the SAT or ACT, but If you are taking the PSAT for your scholarship then you might as well take the SAT."

"Okay." Buffy nodded. "Which one did you take?"

"Both." Angel shrugged when Buffy raised his eyebrows at him. "What? I just wanted to make sure that if I bombed one then I would have the other to fall back one. You might also want to consider taking the CLEP exam."

"Which is…?" Buffy looked confused.

"College Level Examination Program." He told her, as they walked hand in hand. "It's a way to earn college credits by taking an exam and proving that you already know the information instead of taking the extra courses."

"Alright…" Buffy thought for a moment. "So, PSAT, SAT and CLEP. Anything else?"

Angel nodded. "SAT Subject Test. It's going to test your knowledge on the five general categories: English, Mathematics, History, Science and Language."

"Oh." Buffy pouted. "And here I thought all the tests did that." She turned to him with wide eyes. "I'm going to be eating, sleeping and breathing exams. Is there any way I can just take them all at the same time and get it over with, or will that fry my brain? My brain feels like goop just thinking about it."

Angel laughed. "It depends on how they have it set up. It's possible that you could knock out at least two in one day. When I took mine, they did the SAT in the morning and the SAT Subject Test in the afternoon and then I went back for the CLEP exam another time."

"What about the PSAT?" She wondered.

Angel looked over at her. "I took the PSAT when I was a Freshmen in high school."

Buffy pouted playfully. "You really are an overachiever."

"I just knew what I wanted to do." Angel shrugged.

"Yes, but when I was a Freshmen in high school, I was stealing cars and getting drunk in graveyards." Buffy sighed. "While you were taking the PSAT and saving the starving children in Africa."

"Priorities." He laughed.

The couple turned around they heard someone call out to them. "Buffy?"

"Um…" Buffy thought for a second, she couldn't remember the person's name, it would come to her though! "Riley… right?"

The blonde college student nodded. "Yeah, I helped you out last time you were here."

Buffy smiled, that hadn't been the last time she was there, she had gone to Angel's dorm the last couple afternoons after work to see him. "Ah, yeah, I remember. Thanks again."

Riley nodded. "Not a problem. So, what are you up to?"

"Angel, is just giving me a little tour." She pointed at the dark-haired man. "I'm going to be applying here and we figured it would be nice to know where some stuff was before-hand."

"That's a great idea!" Riley smiled. "It would be really awesome if you came here. I'm the TA in Dr. Walsh's Psych 101 class, if you are interested."

"You know…" Buffy looked from Riley to Angel and then back to Riley. "I do actually need it for my degree and it's a subject I have been curious about. So, I will probably be in that class at some point."

Angel smiled at Buffy. "I actually took that class, it's how Riley and I first met. We were almost like rivals for the top spot in class."

"Oh." Buffy hissed, turned back to Riley. "I wouldn't have wanted to be you. My guy, he's an overachiever."

Angel laughed, and pulling her back towards him, hugging her back to his chest.

"Oh… you guys…" Riley pointed at the pair. "You guys are a couple?" Buffy and Angel both nodded. "I never would have guessed. I thought you didn't date, Angel?"

Angel shook his head and laughed. "I didn't, until Buffy came busting into my life."

"I wouldn't really call it busting." Buffy pouted, turning partially around to look at him. "I was sitting in the back at church."

"Fine." Angel laughed. "You busted into my heart."

"I thought maybe she was a relative, or something." Riley shook his head. "A long-lost relative, because she said what she had to talk to you about was embarrassing."

"You said it would be embarrassing?" Angel questioned Buffy, then shrugged. "I guess asking someone to attend a formal event with only a few days-notice could be considered embarrassing."

Buffy gasped, playfully. "It wasn't a few days… it was six days!"

Angel laughed. "Yes, but once you told me what color your dress was how long did I have to prepare?"

"Two days." She pouted, Angel kissed her pouty lips. "But you were the one that wanted to match your vest and stuff… and I didn't hear you complaining that night."

Riley raised his eyebrows at the couple. He had never seen Angel Giles act so open, and playful with a female before. "You know what? I just remembered, I have a class to get to."

Angel looked up at Riley as he walked away, he almost forgot that Riley was even there. He often seemed to forget that other people were around when he was with Buffy. "See you later, Finn." Then Angel turned to Buffy. "He likes you."

Buffy looked from Angel to Riley and then back to Angel. "Excuse me? I have spent all of five minutes with the guy! How could he like me?"

"Well, he thinks you are attractive, which I don't blame him." Angel said watching Riley walk further away. "But, I don't like it."

"Well, well, well." Buffy laughed. "Another jealous man. Jealousy is as fierce as the grave."

"Are you really quoting scripture to me right now?" He raised his eyebrows at her, asking her the same thing she asked him just a month earlier when he had walked in on her in the bathroom.

"Sorry." She smiled, teasingly, running her fingers through his hair. "Reflex."

Angel laughed, as much as he would like to forget that incident ever happened, he couldn't, it was a defining moment in their relationship. That morning, he had opened up to his mom about his feelings for Buffy, and his mom had given him the hope that Buffy may return his feelings. Luckily for him, Buffy did feel the same way. "You quote from Song of Solomon an awful lot."

Buffy shrugged and smiled at him. "It's about a young woman who wanted to be near her lover and enjoy his kisses… I can relate."

"You know…." Angel smiled, his lips just inches from hers. "He loved her very deeply too."

"Uh huh." Buffy nodded, before kissing him.

Angel deepened the kiss but after a moment, he reluctantly pulled away. He knew kissing Buffy so much would end badly because kissing led to more, but he couldn't help himself. Stepping away from her, he held out his hand. "Come on, I will show you the Ministry building."

Buffy took his hand in hers, stepping closer to him and holding up her pointer finger. "Just one more?"

Who was he to deny her? Angel leaned in for a quick kiss but she put her hand on the back of his head, holding him as she deepened the kiss. Angel pulled away when he heard her moan, that sound was going to be the death of him. Looking down at the floor, Angel started to walk with Buffy beside him. "You know, you have to know how many books are in the Bible and the names…"

"There are sixty-six books in the Bible." She smiled as she started to name all the books. "Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Ester, Job and Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes." Buffy smiled wider and laughed. "Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, and Amos, Obadiah, Jonas, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Acts and Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians 1 and 2, 1st and 2nd Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1st and 2nd Peter, 1st, 2nd and 3rd John, Jude, and Revelation." Buffy laughed even harder at the look on Angel's face, and then she sang. "Time tested and reliable, now you know all sixty-six books of the Bible!"

"Wha...What? how?" He asked, shocked. "You haven't even been going to church for two months! Do you know how long it took me to remember all of the books in the Bible?"

Buffy shrugged and laughed again. "I teach Sunday school to a bunch of four-year old's, Angel. You do Worship in the adult sanctuary and we do our own Worship." Angel looked at her oddly, he didn't understand what she was getting at. Buffy laughed again and exclaimed. "It's one of the songs that I taught the kids!"

"You mean, all of your little four-year old's, know all the books of the Bible?" Angel asked, surprised.

Buffy nodded and then paused. "Well, some of them know them better than others, but yeah."

"You amaze me, Buffy Summers." He smiled, wrapping his arm around her waist as they walked.

Buffy shook her head. "I learn a lot in Kids Min too, so I credit a lot of my education to your parents."

"They are good teachers." Angel agreed. "But, it also comes down to if you want to learn it. Once you open your heart up to it, that is when you really start to learn and you follow Jesus with your heart instead of your head."

Buffy nodded. "Totally. I mean, the first week I was supposed to teach, I totally flaked and Willow taught the class for me. I had gone over the lesson plan again and again but it just wasn't sinking in. I think part of that reason is because I didn't want it to. Then I saw you, especially when you were Worshipping. At first, I was like holy crap, he is hot! I'm pretty sure I'm going to go to hell for the thoughts I had about you in service!"

Angel laughed. "Believe me, I have had the same thoughts about you."

Buffy laughed, and smacked a playful kiss to his cheek. "I saw a light in you though…" Buffy smiled over at him. "And I wanted that light too."

Angel stopped walking, turning to look at her, he placed his hand on her cheek. "You have it, Buffy, and it's just as beautiful as you are."


	23. PSAT

TheSlayer96- Don't worry, this isn't the last time we will see Riley! Thank you for both of your reviews!

ba2006- Thank you!

Guest- Thanks! I made a Buffy reference to my professor yesterday and it fell flat. Apparently, not a fan. HAHA I had a few hiccups in two of my classes but hopefully they are cleared up soon, some computer glitches are preventing me from completing an assignment, which sucks.

I'm almost done with chapter 24, it's just going a little slow because of school starting up. Maybe some reviews will speed up the process. Lol You guys are great, thank you for all the reviews, follows, favorites and alerts for this story!

Chapter 23: PSAT

Buffy laid back on the bed in Angel's dorm room, listening to his iPod, while he sat at his desk on the other side of the room, studying for an exam he had coming up. Every day, after work, he would pick her up and she would hang out with him in his dorm room or they would go out and do something. Tonight, she figured they would stay in because he was studying. She was completely fine with that, all she wanted to do was be with him. She knew that sooner or later her mom was going to ask her where she was going all the time, but she couldn't tell her that she was with her boyfriend. She didn't know if her mother would handle it very well because Angel was older than her. For a second, she felt bad for leaving Faith to be with Angel, Faith thought Buffy was just working late and said it was a good thing she was spending most of her time with Xander hanging out or watching Xander clear out the extra bedroom that was supposed to be Joyce's office space and hanging out at The Bronze, otherwise, she would be extremely bored without Buffy.

"What do you want to do tonight?" Angel asked, as he wrote something in his notebook and then turned around to look at Buffy. Buffy smirked at him and he laughed. "Oh, really?"

Buffy bite her lip and nodded.

"Again?" Smiling, Angel got up from his seat, taking a few steps towards his bed before climbing on the end of the bed and crawling up to her. Leaning down, he kissed her.

Buffy sighed and opened her eyes, when he pulled away. "Always."

Angel settled on the bed beside her, kissing her again. It seemed like they ended up making out a lot. Every chance they got, the last couple of days. It was easier to be on campus and act like a couple because the chances of someone seeing them that they knew, were extremely low. The only people that would be on campus that knew about Buffy's age was Oz and once in a while, Xander, if he was going to see either Angel or Oz. Angel was convinced that Xander would have a field day if he found out that he wasn't "as saved" as everyone thought. Angel did stick to his morals though, he and Buffy wouldn't have sex until they were married. Buffy already knew where he stood on that, he told her at prom, they had yet to discuss where she stood on it though. Angel pulled away once their kisses got to be too intense, he smiled and placed his forehead on hers. "You know, you still haven't told me what you want for your birthday."

Buffy smiled, her birthday was only five days away! She couldn't wait! Five more days and they would be able to hold hands, kiss and go out on dates that were off campus. She just had to get past her PSAT Exam and then her birthday was next. "Surprise me."

"Okay." He nodded, kissing her again. "I will."

Buffy pulled his head down, to kiss him again. "This is nice." She whispered between kisses. "… on my last day of freedom."

Buffy was about to kiss him again, but he looked down and started to laugh. "Your last day of freedom?"

"Well, yeah!" Buffy exclaimed seriously. "I have to take the PSAT tomorrow!"

Angel shook his head. "It's a whole four hours for the PSAT."

"Exactly!" Buffy laughed, she didn't really want to talk about this, it was getting in the way of Angel kissage.

Angel shook his head. "You will have a thirty-minute break for lunch."

"Will you meet me for lunch?" She wondered with a sly smile.

Angel shrugged. "I can if you want me to."

"Mmm." Buffy smiled and kissed him. "Ten minutes for lunch, twenty minutes for kisses."

"Buffy." He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Okay, okay." She held up her hands. "You twisted my arm! Five minutes for lunch."

Angel laughed. "I still think you should be studying right now."

Buffy shook her head. "If I study, I won't be able to remember anything!"

Angel shook his head and looked confused. "You do know that is the exact opposite of what studying should do, right?"

Buffy shrugged. "Angel kisses make me remember much better."

"Your insatiable." He smiled, kissing her deeply.

Buffy bit her lip and smiled. "Yeah, but you like me insatiable."

Angel smiled and was about to kiss her again, when he paused, he looked down between them and then up at her face when he heard her stomach growl. "I think we should get you some food."

"Do we…"

"Yes!" He hoped over her body, handing with his feet on the floor, before holding his hand out to her. "You have to eat. Now, what do you want?"

Buffy shrugged. "What's good?" He had been taking her out to dinner on campus every night the last three nights, now she understood why people said they gain weight when they start dating someone new.

"There is a pretty good pizza place not far from here." Angel suggested. "Personally, I prefer a home cooked meal but…"

"Oh no!" Buffy exclaimed, slapping her palm to her forehead. "Today is Friday, isn't it!? Willow is going to kill me!"

Angel shook his head, confused. "Why?"

"We started taking this cooking class together." Buffy tossed Angel's iPod on his nightstand. "It was this whole me and Willow would impress you and Oz with our cooking skills and you wouldn't be able to resist us…"

"You went to a cooking class for me?" Angel smiled.

"Well, duh!" Buffy exclaimed. "How else was I going to get you to go out with me?"

Angel narrowed his eyes at her playfully. "By telling me that you liked me…"

"Not like." She shook her head, stepping closer to him, she took his hands in hers. "Love."

Angel nodded, then kissed her.

When Buffy pulled away she smiled. "Besides, I think it was kind of working…. I mean, you did like those brownies when we went to the Zoo."

Bringing his hand up, he tucked her blonde hair behind her ear. "That was from the cooking class?"

Buffy nodded. "I learned how to make them there."

"Just thinking about those brownies are making me hungry." He laughed. "What time is the cooking class? I could drive you to the cooking class and we could grab something to eat on the way."

Buffy glanced back at the alarm clock on Angel's night stand and shook her head. "It would be almost over by the time we got there. I will just tell Willow that I'm really, really, sorry."

"I'm sure she will forgive you." He smiled. "Besides, you and Willow already have us now, why do you need the cooking class?"

"Because, I still want to be able to cook for my man." She laughed, lightly pushing him towards the door. "Besides, we had this big thing planned where we were going to make it so only you and Oz were over working on the basement and we were going to cook you both dinner."

"And how would you have gotten Xander not to work on your basement?" Angel asked, grabbing his wallet from his study desk. "He pretty much lives for it, he even wants to make that organizational cube for you and he mentioned building your mom a bookshelf!"

Buffy laughed. "I think my mom might be okay with me dating Xander."

Angel whipped his head around towards the blonde. "What? Your mom doesn't like me?"

"Of course, she likes you!" Buffy exclaimed, then shrugged. "It's just, Xander is always there, fixing things. I mean, a couple weeks ago the fridge stopped working and Xander came over within the hour to fix it."

"The fridge? I can fix the fridge!" Angel exclaimed back. "It's the easiest thing to fix!"

Buffy giggled and shook her head. "I'm sure you can, sweetie."

"Why didn't you call me?" He asked, following her as she walked out of his dorm room.

Buffy shook her head again, as she walked a few steps ahead of him. "It was one of those times that you were with Darla." She shrugged. "Which according to my informant, you are still with her from 11:30am to 1PM."

"Okay, who is this person that tells you these things?" Angel questioned. "Is it Oz? Because Oz knows that it's just Bible Study with Darla."

"No, he isn't Oz." Buffy smiled. She thought it was amusing when he tried to figure out who it was that had been telling her when he was with Darla. She didn't know if he would ever guess that it was Andrew. "And he knows that it's just Bible Study, he is just… concerned."

"Why would he be concerned?" Angel questioned, walking a little faster to catch up to her. "No one knows about us, right?"

Buffy shook her head. "He's just a friend that is rooting for us."

"My friend or your friend?" He asked, thinking way to hard about this.

Buffy giggled. "Both."

"Okay." Angel nodded, racking his brain for a mutual friend. "It's not Xander… right? I mean, how could he have known that I was with Darla when he was at your house…?"

Riley Finn looked up from where he was leaning against the brick wall of the campus building, he had heard Buffy's voice and looked to see if she was with Angel. He was a little hopeful when it sounded like they were arguing but then he heard her giggle. He didn't know what to think but he was hoping there was a chance he could swoop in and get more of Buffy's attention.

0o0o0

"Where have you been?" Joyce asked her daughter as soon as she walked in the door.

"Um…" Buffy looked around for a second. "It's Friday?"

"Oh." Joyce nodded, she was happy that Buffy was taking an interest in these free Life Learning Classes that the Rec Center offered. She even heard Buffy trying to talk Faith into going to a few classes about cleaning and managing money. "I forgot what night it was. Anyway, your Aunt Arlene called today, she said Celia got a new bed and now they have an extra one that they want to get rid of. She figured Faith could use it. Do you think one of the guys could go with you to pick it up tomorrow? That truck belongs to them, doesn't it?"

Buffy knew right away when her mother said one of the guys that she meant Angel, Xander and Oz. "Mom, I have my PSAT tomorrow."

"Oh! Right!" Joyce nodded. "I forgot! Do you think you could go after your test? I know you love Faith, and no offense, but honey, your room is a pig sty."

Buffy laughed. Faith certainly didn't care if her clothes didn't make it into the laundry basket. "Yeah mom, I can go after my test. Oz had band practice and Xander has a family reunion but I can ask if Angel can do it."

"Thank you, so much!" Joyce hugged her daughter. "You really are a good girl."

Buffy smiled and hugged her mom. She never knew how much she missed and needed to hear her mother tell her she was a good girl until her mother started telling her again. "Hey mom, you okay? I mean, you forgot what day it was and about my test…"

"Of course, sweetie!" Joyce reassured her. "It's just been crazy at work."

Buffy nodded. "I can relate, I almost forgot about the cooking class tonight."

"Don't stress to much about it, honey." Joyce called as she turned to walk back into the kitchen, she had some dishes to finish up. "You will do great on your test. By the way, are you sure you only need a ride to your test?"

Buffy nodded, following her mother into the kitchen. Angel had already planned to pick her up from the test. "Besides, if Angel can go to Aunt Arlene's then I will just ask him to pick me up."

"And refresh my memory." Joyce closed her eyes and shook her head, she needed to clear her mind, then maybe she could remember things. "You need to be at the test at what time?"

Buffy pouted and let out a loud sigh. "Seven in the morning." The test didn't actually start that early, but Principal Snyder had sent a letter out to everyone taking the test to be there at seven. She was sure it was just so all the students would be extremely tired at the test and end up failing. That would be a total Snyder move!

"Alright." Her mother nodded. "I will just drop you off and go directly to work then."

Buffy bugged out her eyes, but her mother didn't see her. Why was her mother going to work that early? Haven't people ever heard of sleeping in? Shaking her head, Buffy said goodnight to her mother and ran upstairs. She grabbed the phone in her room, she noticed that Faith wasn't back yet, she was probably still at The Bronze. Faith had said that she and Buffy would be going there for the first time together on Buffy's birthday but the brunette had ended up going alone the first time and then most of the time with Xander, after that. Buffy wasn't upset about it though, she wasn't sure The Bronze would be her type of scene.

Buffy smiled as she dialed a number she knew by heart, she waited until she heard the click of the line. "Hey Sexy."

Angel laughed. "Right back at you."

"Wha'cha doing?" She asked teasingly as she laid down on her bed.

Angel laughed again. "Lying in bed. You?"

"Mmmm. Same." She smiled.

"What's up?" He asked her.

"Well, my mom was wondering if you and I could go to my Aunt Arlene's house tomorrow after my exam." She yawned. "She has an extra bed that Faith can have."

"Did she…" Angel paused for a moment. "Did she ask for me by name?"

Buffy creased her brow, why did that matter? "No… she…"

"Did she ask for Xander by name?" He cut her off.

Suddenly, Buffy realized what he was getting at and she laughed. "No, she didn't. She said one of you guys."

"Oh… okay." He said quietly. "We can… oh, wait." Angel paused. "I'm supposed to meet with Darla tomorrow afternoon."

Buffy raised her eyebrows, even though he couldn't see her.

"But I can cancel." He said quickly.

Buffy shook her head, her eyebrows still raised. It's not that she was jealous, she knew that he was just helping Darla, but she didn't like the idea of him calling another girl this late at night. "And when are you going to cancel?"

"Tomorrow." He answered quickly, he didn't know from his own experience but he knew from his friends that girls didn't exactly like their boyfriends calling other girls, especially at night. "I can do it tomorrow morning."

"Good." Buffy nodded. "But Angel…"

"Yeah?"

"if you ever cancel on me that short of notice…" She trailed off. "No kisses, for like, a whole five minutes."

"The torture!" He gasped, then smiled teasingly. "You know, I really wish I could kiss you right now."

Buffy laughed. "Angel, we made out in your car for like 20 minutes outside my house."

"I know." He nodded. "That just makes me want to kiss you more."

"Your insatiable." She teased him with the same words he had said to her earlier in the night.

"Yeah." Angel teased back. "But you like me insatiable."

Buffy laughed, even though she hated the fact that he was so far away and she couldn't kiss him or cuddle up with him. The scarier thought, he actually wasn't that far away, campus was only about a fifteen-minute drive from her house. "I will see you tomorrow, Angel."

"Okay, you are going to do great on the PSAT." He whispered. "Goodnight."

Buffy smiled. "Goodnight."

0o0o0

Joyce pulled up outside of the school to drop Buffy off for her PSAT exam, she was so nervous for her daughter. She felt like she just had these nervous, oh yeah, she did, when Faith had taken her placement test. If she was this nervous for her girls, then she didn't even want to know what they were feeling. "Do you have everything?"

Buffy nodded. "I think so… I mean, they said I would need a pencil and a calculator."

"Did you bring your snacks?" Joyce wondered, she had put them on the counter for her. She wanted to make sure that Buffy was able to focus and do well on her test. She was proud of Buffy for taking the steps in order to go to college. Buffy had voiced to her that for a while she didn't even think she would go to college, and Joyce had to agree. She had the fear that Buffy would end up dropping out of high school and Joyce did everything she could to make sure that didn't happen. Now, seeing her daughter doing so well, not just in school but in life, made all the moving around and the difficulties she experienced finding jobs, was worth it. All she wanted was her daughter to be happy and do well in life. She knew that Sunnydale was the perfect place for that.

Buffy laughed at her mom. "Yes, I have my snacks and I will have a break for lunch before I start the second half."

Joyce shook her head. "Why do you have to be here so early? You said the test was only four hours."

"Snyder summoned." Buffy joked before climbing out of the car. "Bye mom."

"Good luck, Sweetie!" She called to her daughter.

Walking into the school, she looked around to see that there weren't very many students there. Buffy went over to check in with a young woman sitting at a table and then went to find her seat. She was slightly scared when she watched Snyder walk in and stand in the front of the room. "Alright, Students. You are all here for the PSAT Exam. For those of you that don't know what that is…" Principal Snyder looked around the room at everyone, his eyes lingered on Buffy just a little longer. "Which is all of you. It's the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test. If you score high enough, you will be eligible for a scholarship for college, which, won't be any of you. If you feel like talking… don't. If you have to go to the bathroom, you can't. If your pencil breaks, you're out of luck. You WILL fail this exam and I don't really care either way, as long as you are out of my life soon."

The woman that had sat at the desk for check-in raised her eyebrows in shock, as she passed out the exam booklets to the students. She had never met a man a rude as Principal Snyder, and she hoped the college board never sent her to do the PSAT or the SAT at Sunnydale High School again, as long as he was the principal there. She was about to complete her first year of teaching at University of Sunnydale, one of her colleagues had said they always sent the newbies to Sunnydale High School, now she knew why. It was to torture them.

Buffy looked down at how thick the test was and sighed. "At least I know my name."

Once Principal Snyder had left the room, the young college instructor made her way in front of the class. "Hi, my name is Tara Maclay, I will be your exam proctor." She smiled at the students, looking around the room, then pointed towards the door that Principal Snyder had left through. "A few corrections… if you have to go to the bathroom, just raise your hand and I will come over to take your test. If you need an extra pencil or a sharpener, also, just raise your hand. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I want you to succeed and be able to get the scholarship that you all deserve. But please, don't talk to each other and don't try to look at someone else's test. I don't want to have to throw your test out but that is the rules. You should all have scrap paper on your desk, that does need to be turned in to me at the end and if you need more paper…" She trailed off, smiling as she raised her hand to demonstrate. "Start out by filling out the information on the front of the test, it's basic stuff, just your name, age, and grade, then you can get started. Good luck, and I know you are all going to do great!"

Buffy nodded, then began to fill out the front of the packet. She felt better after the exam proctor had spoken, she didn't make it seem as bad as Principal Snyder.

0o0o0

"I'm sure you did great, Buffy." The young blonde professor smiled as they walked out of the school together.

Buffy was done with her test rather quickly, must quicker than she thought that she would have been. She raised her hand for Ms. Maclay to take her test and she was about to leave when the exam proctor saw the crosses that Buffy had doodled on her scrap paper. She found out that Tara had moved to Sunnydale at the beginning of the school year and had been looking for a church to attend, naturally, Buffy invited her to Awaken Church. "Thanks, Tara! I'm really hoping I did."

"What college are you hoping to get into?" Tara asked, as they walked.

Buffy turned to look at her and smiled. "University of Sunnydale."

"It's a good school." Tara smiled. "But, I might also be biased." Tara looked towards the parking lot then at Buffy. "Buffy, there is a guy over there looking at you… I'm pretty sure I have seen him around campus at University of Sunnydale."

Buffy made a confused face and turned towards the parking lot, where Angel was leaning against the hood of the church's work truck that they would be using to pick up the bed from her Aunt Arlene. "Mmm, boyfriend." Buffy cringed. "We were supposed to do lunch."

"Oh." Tara cringed playfully. "I hope he won't be upset."

Buffy shook her head. "He doesn't get upset."

Tara laughed and waved at Buffy, before walking towards her car with the box full of tests. She needed to drop the test off to the team of professors that were going to be grading them. "Bye!"

Buffy walked up to Angel and pouted. "Sorry, the schedule got all messed up because Snyder asked everyone to come in early, so he could give us a speech about how we are all going to fail, so then we started the test early. Then everyone was pretty much done so we decided to work into our lunch break and just get it over with."

"Wow." Somehow, Angel wasn't surprised about the Principal Snyder part at all. "So, you are completely done now instead of just having a lunch break?"

Buffy nodded, stepping closer to him. "But my brain is goop, I need Angel kisses to make it better."

"It's a good thing I came prepared then." He smiled, before kissing her. "Hope in." He motioned to the truck, opening the door for her. "We have a two and a half hour drive to your Aunts house and no matter what time it is when we get back, I am putting that bed together."

Buffy raised her eyebrows as a small laugh escaped her lips. "You just want my mom to like you more than Xander."

"Yes!" He exclaimed, shutting the door once she climbed in, then continued talking through the open window. "I'm the one that she's going to find out is dating her daughter, she needs to like me."

"Angel." Buffy reached through the open window, placing her hand on the side of his face. "She does like you."

"But she likes Xander more because he does stuff around the house." He reminded her.

Buffy smiled, he looked sad, like a little puppy.

Angel jogged around the truck, and got in behind the wheel, before starting the truck. "Do you want to stop to get something to eat before we leave Sunnydale?"

Buffy laughed, again with the eating, she shook her head. "Not unless you want to."

"I'm not really hungry yet." Angel shrugged, pulling out of the school parking lot. "I had a late breakfast."


	24. Los Angeles

TheSlayer96- Haha! Angel is so crazy about Buffy, he is turning crazy!

Allison117- We will be finding out soon how Joyce reacts to it, not in this chapter, but soon.

Thank you for the reviews, you guys are so awesome! Chapter 25 is already written so be expecting it soon! I hope you guys like this chapter and the next one, I have been writing this story instead of doing my homework, just because writing this is much more fun. LOL

Chapter 24: Los Angeles

Buffy nodded her head along with the song that was playing on the CD that Angel had put in, she had never heard the song before but she really liked it. "What's this song called?"

Angel looked over at her briefly as he turned onto the street going into Los Angeles. "Fullness. It's by Elevation Worship."

"Is that a band?" Buffy asked, scrunching up her face.

Angel laughed. "It's the Worship team at Elevation Church."

"Oh. They are really good." She noted, then looked towards him quickly. "You guys are really good too!"

Angel laughed again. "We could only hope to be like Elevation Worship."

"We should go sometime." Buffy smiled at him.

Angel turned to her, with his eyebrows raised, before looking back to the road. "Elevation Church is about thirty-eight hours away, Buffy."

Sitting up straight, Buffy looked shocked. "What?!"

Angel couldn't help but laugh again. "It's in Charlotte, North Caroline."

"Jeesh!" Buffy shook her head, then smiled. "We should still go… maybe get the gang together and make a little trip out of it this summer."

"Maybe, we will see." Angel nodded. He would definitely need their friends to be there too, if they were going to take a trip together. There was no way he could handle being alone with Buffy for that long, they already made out every chance they got when they were alone. They would also have to have hotel rooms on separate sides of the hotel… or separate hotels. He could feel his desire for her growing every day.

"Pour it out, let Your love run over, here and now…" Buffy sang along with the CD, then turned to look at Angel again. "Angel."

"Hmmm?" He asked, stopping at a red light in the street. They had just got to Los Angeles, it would be about another thirty minutes until they got to Buffy's Aunt's house in Santa Monica. He glanced at the GPS system that was on the truck dashboard to double check how much longer it would be.

Buffy pouted. "I'm hungry."

Angel laughed and looked at the clock. "We only have a half hour before we get to your Aunt's house, do you want to stop somewhere now?"

Buffy nodded.

"Okay." Angel nodded. "Where do you want to go? You are from here, what's good?"

"In N Out Burger's good." She shrugged.

Angel shook his head. "I can't say I have ever been there before."

"What?" Buffy asked shocked. "What kind of Californian has never had In N Out before?"

Angel laughed. "Well, we don't have one in Sunnydale and I can't say I frequent Los Angeles very often."

"Oh…" Buffy laughed. "You are going to be so addicted when I am done with you."

Angel smiled. Too late, he was already addicted to her.

"Turn left up here." Buffy pointed to a street on the right. "There's one on Venice."

0o0o0

"So?" Buffy asked sitting across from Angel, before putting a fry in her mouth.

Angel shrugged. "It's good." He picked up his cup. "This milkshake is probably the best part though."

"I told you that you HAVE to get a shake when you come here!" Buffy exclaimed. "I don't mess around when it comes to In N Out Burger… or shoes."

"I see that now." Angel laughed. "I will never question you again."

"You shouldn't." Buffy laughed, eating another fry. "Happy girlfriend, happy life."

Angel raised his eyebrow at her playfully. "I thought it was happy wife, happy life."

"Yeah, whatever." She shrugged. "I'm not your wife."

Angel smiled. "Yet."

Buffy's mouth dropped open in mock shock, before a crowd of people walked in the door of the fast food restaurant and it started to get loud. Looking over at the crowd, she recognized a few people and suddenly didn't want to be there anymore. "Hey, do you… do you want to get out of here?"

"Buffy, we aren't done eating, yet." He looked down at their food.

"I know, it's just…" She glanced up at the people. "Those people know Pike and Benny, I don't really want to chance seeing them."

Angel looked over at the group of teens that were wearing leather jackets, shouting and shoving each other. He only had one encounter with Pike and Benny, and he wanted to keep it that way. "Okay." He whispered. "Let's go."

Walking out to the truck, Angel was about to open the door for Buffy when he heard someone call her name. She turned around to look at the voice.

"Oh, my gawd!" A brunette exclaimed, holding out her shopping bags. "Buffy, is that seriously you?"

"Hey, Buffy!" A strawberry blonde with curly hair waved.

Buffy looked to Angel before walking towards the two girls. "Hey Kimberly, hey Jennifer."

"Wow!" Kimberly exclaimed again. "We haven't seen you in forever! Not since you road off on the back of that bike with that loser, Pike! You know, the night you blew up the school!"

Angel raised his eyebrows and looked towards Buffy.

"Well, she didn't really blow up the school." Jennifer looked towards Kimberly. "It was more like a small explosion and then a bigger fire." Then she turned to Buffy. "But hey, we got a new gym out of it!"

"Always a silver lining." Buffy laughed uncomfortably. These used to be her best friends, but she didn't know them anymore. It felt like a lifetime ago that she was even friends with them. "Hey, where is Nicole?"

Jennifer looked behind her, then spun around, like she was looking for something a little too hard. She was always the ditzy one. "Wasn't she with us? I could have sworn she was!"

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "She was, she's probably just trying to pick up some guy."

"Hey!" A thin African American called from a few feet behind the two girls, holding several shopping bags. "Who's the hottie?" She walked closer to them, seeing the blonde. "Oh, my gawd! It's Buffy Summers! Where have you been and who is this hunk of man meat?"

Angel looked between the four girls, he really didn't know what to think or say at that moment.

"I have been living in Sunnydale California, and this…" She turned to look at him. "…is Angel."

"Totally Angelic!" Nicole smiled at him. "So, Angel, what's your status?"

"I'm curious too!" Kimberly exclaimed. Something never changed, Kimberly never did anything quietly.

"Um…" Angel looked at Buffy for some help.

Buffy laughed. "Translation- She wants to know if you are in a relationship."

"Oh! Yes!" Angel exclaimed. "A very serious relationship. My girlfriend is very jealous, the violent type."

Buffy gasped playfully, towards Angel. "I am not!"

"You two are like… together?" Jennifer asked. "I thought you were dating Pike."

Buffy shook her head vigorously. "I have NOT been with Pike for almost a year."

"Really?" Nicole asked, looking to her two best friends. "I swore that Jeffery told us Pike said you guys were still together last month."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "He has issues, and what was Jeffery doing talking to Pike?" Jeffery was the star of the Basketball team back in Hemery and never would have wasted his time on Pike before.

Kimberly rolled her eyes too. "He's been hanging out with Pike and Benny, once in a while. I swear, if he is doing drugs…"

"Jeffery would never!" Jennifer exclaimed. "Plus, they drug test him for the team."

Nicole nodded. "True, they do drug test for the Basketball team." Then she looked at Buffy and Angel. "So, like… is that your truck?"

Buffy looked behind them at the work truck for the church. "Oh, no. Angel's dad is the Pastor at a church and we barrowed the truck to pick something up from my Aunt."

"Arlene or Lolly?" Jennifer asked.

Buffy gave Jennifer an odd look. "Arlene."

"Doesn't your Aunt Lolly live in like…" Kimberly thought for a second. "Illinios."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, she still lives there."

"Hey, Buffy!" Jennifer said excitedly. "Do you want to go shopping with us?" Then Jennifer looked to Kimberly. "I mean, if it's okay."

Buffy looked to Angel, then back to her former friends. "You know, we should really get going… we have to get to my Aunt's house and then back to Sunnydale. Maybe another time?"

"Totally!" Jennifer smiled. "Hey, what's your number?"

After giving Jennifer, her new phone number, Buffy and Angel got back into the truck. Angel looked to Buffy, waiting for her to explain.

"What?" She asked, shrugging.

Angel shook his head and shrugged back at her. "I was just curious, who those girls were."

Buffy sighed. "My old… old… best friends. The ones before I started getting into trouble."

"Those girls kept you out of trouble?" He asked teasingly, starting the truck up.

Buffy shrugged. "More like I kept them out of trouble. It's a lot of responsibility to be the leader when you are popular."

"Oh, I'm sure." He teased her. "It seemed like… Kimberly, was that her name? She seemed like she was the leader."

Buffy nodded. "There was always this kind of power struggle when it came to me and Kimberly. Jenn, she was always kinda… ditzy, and Kimberly used that to her advantage. I felt bad about it, so I would step in and that wouldn't make Kimberly very happy."

"I don't know." Angel shook his head. "Just spending five minutes with them, I don't see you being friends with them."

"Could you see me being friends with Faith, Pike and Benny?" Buffy teased.

"Pike and Benny… No." Angel shook his head again. "But Faith, it seems like she knows your limits and will make you push them but not break them and you keep her from going too far. You complement each other. It's almost like you're sisters."

"You're right, we do." Buffy smiled. "And lately, she has been so far up in my space that it's like we pretty much are sisters!"

"Well then." Angel laughed. "Let's go get this bed, and she won't be in your space as much."

0o0o0

"Buffy!" An older thin blonde woman screamed from the front door. "Come here, come here, come here!"

Buffy laughed at her Aunt Arlene, she was such a character, always joking around and having fun. "Hey, Aunt Arlene!"

"Oh, why, hello!" The blonde woman smiled at Angel. "And which one are you? Xander?"

Angel gave Buffy a pointed look. Why is it that her Aunt Arlene knew about Xander? Clearly, Buffy's mother had mentioned Xander!

"This is Angel, Aunt Arlene." Buffy laughed.

"Oh! Okay." The older blonde woman nodded. "Can you lift a bed, Angel?"

Angel nodded. "Do you need me to take it apart?"

Arlene shook her head. "Us Johnson woman have no problem taking things apart and putting them together, isn't that right, Buffy?"

"Yup." Buffy smiled, sitting down on her Aunt's couch. Even though her last name was Summers, everyone said she acted exactly like her mother's side of the family. She was a Johnson woman, through and through. "But it's so much better to watch guys do it."

"That's my girl!" Her Aunt laughed, holding her hand out for a high five.

"I thought I was your girl!" A brunette said seriously walking into the living room.

"Celia!" Buffy shouted happily, quickly getting up from the couch and hugging the teenager. Buffy turned to Angel. "Celia, this is Angel. Angel, this is my cousin Celia."

"Mom!" Celia shouted. "Why did you have to take the bed apart? Now we can't watch him do it! Check out those muscles!"

Buffy smiled at Angel, he looked a little uncomfortable but she knew that was just how her Aunt and cousin were. "Oh, but we can watch him carry it and load it into the truck."

"Oh, see, Buffy." Celia smiled, tapping her temple. "You always were the one with the good ideas."

Celia took Angel upstairs to show him where the bed was, and Buffy followed her Aunt into the kitchen. Her Aunt Arlene always said that if a man does any heavy lifting, you at least offer him a drink. "Let's see… what would Angel like to drink."

"Do you have any lemonade?" Buffy asked, her Aunt turned around from where she was looking in the fridge. "Or Cherry Limeade, actually. It's his…favorite…" Buffy tailed off when she saw the look her Aunt was giving her.

Shutting the fridge door, her Aunt walked over to her, and leaned against the counter close to Buffy. "How long have you two been together?"

"What?" Buffy scrunched up her brow. How in the world could her Aunt tell after only a few minutes?

"Oh please!" Arlene exclaimed. "You know his favorite drink, and don't for a second think I didn't see those puppy love eyes you were giving each other when he left the room AND he checked you out."

"He did not!" Buffy shouted, then laughed. She didn't think Angel ever checked her out, he wasn't like that. "Angel wouldn't."

"Ha!" Arlene shouted back. "He's a man, Buffy. They all check us out! So, I repeat my question, how long?"

"You have to promise not to tell my mom, or anyone for that matter that might talk to anyone connected to Sunnydale or my mom." Buffy stressed.

Her Aunt Arlene shook her head, confused. "What is the big deal?"

"Angel is older than me." Buffy shrugged. "Not extremely older, like obviously he isn't come old creeper but he is older and his dad is the Lead Pastor at a church in Sunnydale and Angel is very close to becoming a Youth Pastor himself…"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Her Aunt Arlene waved her hand at Buffy. "It's all hush hush because the Pastor is currently breaking the law, what's new?"

Buffy gasped, she knew that there were some Christian leaders out there that weren't exactly by the book but she didn't see anything wrong with what her and Angel were doing, but that was because she knew there were real feelings involved. "Not long. We have liked each other for a while, and we tried to wait until my birthday but then at Prom…"

Her Aunt Arlene cut her off. "You went to prom with him?" Arlene glanced around to make sure Angel and Celia weren't coming back down the stairs. "Did you have sex with him on prom night?!"

"What?!" Buffy shouted, then looked towards the stairs just like her aunt did. "No! Of course not! We just kissed."

"Man!" Her Aunt Arlene slapped the counter in front of her. "I thought it was about to get juicy."

Buffy rolled her eyes and smiled. Her Aunts were both a little out there, which she loved about them, but her mom, being the oldest sibling was more serious and grown up compared to Arlene and Lolly.

"So, you really don't think your mom would be okay with it?" Her Aunt asked. "I mean, he's like a man of the clothe… a man of God. What's so bad about that?"

"It's not what he does." Buffy nodded once. "It's his age."

"So, what?" Her Aunt shook her head. "Celia has an older boyfriend. You know what I said when I found out?" Arlene smiled teasingly. "Good! He can pay your phone bill!"

Buffy laughed at her aunt's reaction, that was very much how she would expect her aunt to react. Celia was the same age as Buffy, actually, the blonde was a month older than her cousin, but Celia was already graduated from high school. It was another one of those moments were Buffy wished she hadn't screwed up so much which resulted in her repeating the eleventh grade. "How much older?"

"I think he's like five years older than her." The older blonde shrugged. "He's like twenty-two. He's got this bleach blonde hair, dresses in leather, has a motorcycle… he's crazy, but he's crazy about her."

"Wow." Buffy shouldn't have been surprised that her aunt was cool with that, but she was. Exactly, how crazy was he? "And you are totally okay with that?"

Her aunt nodded. "At first, I was like who the crap is this loser in my house? But then… I saw that he really cares about her, loves her even. You know that stereotypical bad boy that makes his girlfriend do everything for him and he's lazy? That's not him. He does everything for Celia. The weirdest part, his name is Spike and he writes poetry!"

Buffy burst out laughing. "What?"

"It's horrible poetry." Her aunt laughed. "But it's still poetry."

Angel walked down the stairs carefully with the headboard to the bed propped up on his shoulder, he went outside and put it in the back of the truck. When he came back inside, he could still hear Buffy and her aunt laughing about something as Celia came down the stairs.

Celia looked at Angel questioningly, before they both made their way into the kitchen. "What's so funny?" Celia frowned.

Buffy turned to her cousin, still laughing. "Spike."

Celia rolled her eyes, why did her mom always have to make fun of him? He was the best boyfriend she ever had and her mother knew that. "Oh, shut up!"

Angel raised his eyebrows at Buffy and the blonde laughed again. "Celia has an older boyfriend named Spike that writes bad poetry."

Angel sighed, looking at the other two women before turning back to Buffy. "Remind me to never show you my poetry then."

"See!" Celia exclaimed. "Your boyfriend writes bad poetry too!"

Angel and Buffy shared a look.

"Oh please!" Celia exclaimed again. "Don't even try to deny it, it's written all over you. You two are totally feelin' each other, and there is nothing wrong with that."

Arlene eyed her daughter, tact really wasn't her strong suit, but then again, that seemed to run in their family. "He's older than she is."

"Spike is older than me." Celia noted. "Why does it matter if you really care about someone? Plus…" Celia turned from her mother to her cousin. "You are going to be eighteen in a couple of days."

"Celia, you know how your Aunt Joyce is, sometimes." Arlene reminded her, even though she didn't think Joyce would have that much of an issue with it. Her sister might be more upset that Buffy didn't tell her sooner.

"Aunt Joyce is chill!" Celia smiled. "I mean, what better than a Pastor's kid to tame her wild child daughter?" Buffy raised her eyebrow at her cousin and Celia shook her head. "What? We were talking upstairs."

"I'm not wild…" Buffy shook her head. "Anymore."

"Bam!" Celia clapped her hands together. "He already tamed the beast!"

"I wouldn't say she was wild." Angel shrugged.

"Buffy, I don't think you were ever wild." Her aunt smiled. "You were always a good kid, you just happened to get caught up with the wrong people. You haven't been hanging out with Pike and Benny, have you?"

Buffy shook her head. "The last time I saw them, I tried to ignore them as much as possible. I just wanted to hang out with Faith."

"Faith isn't a bad kid either." Arlene shook her head and shrugged. Faith and her Celia were a lot alike, but Celia was never arrested. She had a feeling that if Faith hadn't gotten caught up with those two boys, just like Buffy had, she wouldn't have been arrested either.

Buffy laughed. "You sound like my mom."

"Well…" Arlene smiled again. "She is my older sister."

Angel looked over at the clock on the wall, they really needed to hurry, so that he could put the bed together once they got to Sunnydale. "I should go grab the rest of the bed." He smiled at Buffy.

"Oh, just do it!" Arlene exclaimed. "We know you want to!"

"We were literally just discussing you two." Celia pointed at the couple. "The cat's out of the bag, so just do it."

Angel looked to Buffy and smiled before leaning down to kiss her. He tried to pull away when he heard Buffy's aunt and cousin doing cat calls, but Buffy put her hand on the back of his head to hold him to her. Buffy smiled before following him up the stairs where the rest of the bed was. He quickly grabbed the footboard of the bed and propped it on his shoulder like he had with the headboard.

Buffy looked at the remaining pieces of the bed, as Angel took the foot board to the truck, she didn't know beds had so many pieces. Every time they had moved, the movers had put the beds together for her and her mom. She was happy that they wouldn't have to be moving again, Sunnydale was home now, she smiled at the thought, as long as Angel was in Sunnydale it was home. Buffy took a step towards the boards remaining for the bed, and started to pick one up, she didn't think they would be that heavy but boy, was she wrong.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Angel asked walking back in, he took the board from Buffy and set it back on the floor.

Buffy didn't know how he got down the stairs carrying the heavy footboard and back up in such a short amount of time, she must have been stuck in her thoughts for a while. "I want to help you."

"What happened to liking to watch guys do stuff?" He teased her.

"As much as I like watching you lift heavy things…" She smiled, placing her hand on his bicep. "I don't want you to do it all alone."

Angel smiled down at her hand on his arm, then gently leaned down to kiss her as he placed his hand on her flat stomach, slowly guiding her backwards until her back was against the bedroom wall. It was beyond his understanding how just one innocent touch from her could send shock waved through his body. He often felt like he would lose control with Buffy, he had to be very careful. He should have known by the way she made him feel before, that it would be hard for him not to give in. There were times when he thought it would have been better if he hadn't kissed her that night at prom, because he couldn't seem to get enough of her, but then one touch of her lips, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

Buffy gasped against his lips, pulling him closer to her when she felt his thumb gently rubbing small circles on her bare stomach. If she thought she had butterflies the first time they had kissed at prom, she didn't know what this was then. Buffy deepened the kiss, and Angel pressed her further against the wall.

Suddenly, Angel pulled away, breathing heaving and shaking his head. Things were getting really intense with Buffy, and not just when they were kissing. He couldn't stand not being near her, not touching her. And that scared him. "I should get the rest of the bed in the truck."

"I know." Buffy nodded, taking his face in her hands, kissing him again.

It didn't take long for the kiss to get intense, and this time, it was Buffy that pulled away. Taking a deep breath, Buffy placed one more, quick kiss to his lips and Angel rested his forehead against hers. "This is me…. going." He whispered, kissing her again.


	25. Trouble

Thank you for the reviews, TheSlayer96 and Sassy.B93! I really appreciate them!

This chapter got slightly delayed because my best friend and I were discussing in length, if this chapter was still considered a Teen rating or if I should up the rating on this story. So, to be on the safe side, I have decided to bump up the rating to Mature. I don't think it is anything that is to bad though. Feel free to leave me a review and let me know if you think it is a Teen or Mature rating.

I also already have chapter 26 written, it just needs to be edited and I have started on chapter 27.

Chapter 25: Trouble

Buffy looked over at Angel as he drove the work truck, it had taken slightly longer to get the bed loaded up than it should have because they kept stopping to kiss. There used to be something so innocent about their relationship, now things were so intense she felt like she would spontaneously combust. That probably wasn't good for either one of them, especially Angel.

"I should get gas." Angel said, looking down at the fuel gauge by the steering wheel.

"Huh?" Buffy asked. She had been looking right at him, she could see his lips moving but she couldn't hear his words, she had been too busy thinking about kissing him. Again.

"I should get some gas." He repeated. "Before we leave Los Angeles."

"Oh!" Buffy nodded.

"Are you okay?" Angel asked, and Buffy nodded. But, the truth was, she wasn't okay, she had this feeling in her stomach ever since she felt Angel's hand on her sensitive bare stomach. It was odd, but no guy had ever touched her like that before, yeah, Pike had tried to get his hand up her shirt many times but it was different with Angel. The only way she could think of to describe it was it felt like a swarm of butterflies had taken up residency inside her. Angel's touch had been so gentle that just thinking about it was making that swarm of butterflies flutter quicker. Angel gave her a quick smile. "I will be right back." He leaned over, giving her a quick kiss.

Buffy watched Angel climb out of the driver's seat, she bit her lip as he pushed a few buttons on the gas pump and swiped his card through the machine to pay. By the time he was pumping the gas, Buffy had slid across the seat, and climbed out of the driver seat door. Angel looked up at Buffy, questioningly. "Did you want something…?" He asked, pointing towards the convenient store part of the gas station.

Buffy nodded, wrapping her arms around Angel's neck. "You can't just leave me with that kiss." She whispered, kissing him.

Angel smiled against her lips, wrapped his arm around her waist and turned them around so Buffy was pressed against the truck. After a few moments, Angel pulled away from Buffy, smiling. "I love you, Buffy."

Buffy smiled brightly, Angel had told her that he loved her at the beach but in the past couple of days, he hadn't said it again, she was beginning to think even though he loved her, he didn't mean that he was in love with her. There was a difference. She knew, without a doubt that she was in love with him. "I love you, Angel."

Angel smiled wider and kissed her again. He didn't know what it was about Buffy Summers, he just couldn't get enough of her. He never thought he would be one of those people that would make out at a gas station, in a car or even in a restaurant but, in the past week, he had. It was exactly one week ago that he had kissed Buffy at prom.

Buffy arched her back, pressing herself closer to Angel as they kissed passionately.

"Well, well, well." Came a voice that Buffy never wanted to hear again. Breaking away from her kiss with Angel, which irritated her enough as it was, she had to deal with Benny too. She knew though, where there was Benny, there was also…

Pike glared at the couple, still in each other's arms. "Thought you weren't havin' sex with him."

Buffy let out a sigh, resting her forehead on Angel's chest. She so didn't want to deal with them, why couldn't she just kiss her boyfriend in peace? Buffy turned around, still in Angel's arms. "Benny… Pike…"

"You know, for someone who isn't havin' sex with this guy…" Pike glared. "You certainly are really protective of him, I mean, you give up your friends for him when you kicked us out of your town." Buffy rolled her eyes at her ex-boyfriend. "…and now your making out with him in the middle of a very populated area."

Angel glanced around the outside of the gas station and only saw one other person there besides them. Very populated? Was this guy at the same gas station as them?

"Pike..." Buffy trailed off. "I'm not having this conversation with you. Again."

"I don't remember having a conversation." Pike took a step closer to the couple, with Benny nodding behind him. "I remember you yelling at me about sex and how he…" Pike motioned to Angel. "…was a man and I wasn't."

"Yeah." Benny pursed his lips and nodded. "He's so sweet and kind and genuine and makes you smile." Benny started to laugh uncontrollably.

Buffy glared at the dark-haired boy. "Benny, shut up."

Benny stopped laughing and looked at Buffy. He had always been slightly afraid of the blonde.

"I don't get it, Buffy." Pike shook his head. "How could you go and hook up with this guy? We have been together for a long time..."

"Pike!" Buffy raised her voice to get his attention, stepping away from Angel. "We haven't been together in a year, we weren't even together that long to begin with and we definitely weren't good together."

"How could you say that?" Pike exclaimed. "We have been together since that night at the park…"

Buffy rolled her eyes, she knew exactly what night he was talking about. It was the night Pike had gotten in a fight with one of her basketball player friends, Grueller, she still didn't know why she took Pike's side that night and took him back to her house to clean him up and offered to let him spend the night because her parents were out of town. Thinking back to that night, Pike was the one that was drunk and had started the fight to begin with. Pike had slept on the couch but that night was when everything started going downhill and she hung out with Pike more and more. "We didn't get together that night, Pike! That was just when we started hanging out."

"No." Pike shook his head. "You asked me to spend the night…"

"You slept on the couch!" She exclaimed. "It was a huge mistake on my part. HUGE."

Benny shook his head. "No, I'm pretty sure if someone spends the night at your house then you are a couple."

"Oh, wow." Buffy laughed, turning to Angel, who had been quiet the whole time. "You hear that Angel? You and I have been together longer than we thought." Buffy turned back to Benny and rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, Buff! This guy?" Pike asked, shocked. "That's like double the slap in the face!"

"Yeah!" Benny nodded. "Double."

Buffy rolled her eyes, these guys really did bring out the worst in her. Buffy heard the sound of police sirens in the distance. "Please tell me that isn't for you."

"Probably." Benny nodded sheepishly. "I mean, it was only a car…" He motioned behind him. "and maybe some vodka."

Rolling her eyes again, she started to walk back to the truck. Same old Pike and Benny. If Pike and Benny were going down, she wasn't going to be anywhere near them when it happened.

"I didn't think you were like this, Buff." Pike called out to her, shaking his head. "I mean, I never thought you would cheat on me like a two-bit whore…" Pike was cut off by Angel's fist making contact with his face.

"Oh my God!" Buffy screamed in shock. "Angel!"

"Oh shit!" Pike cried out in pain, holding his nose, trying to stop the blood from pouring out of it. "My nose! I think it's broken!"

"Stay away from her. Don't look at her. Don't contact her. Don't even think about her." Angel growled before going back over to the pump, taking the nozzle out of the gas tank and back into the pump, never taking his eyes off Pike.

Buffy looked at Angel shocked, she had never seen him like that before, she didn't think Angel had the ability to get angry.

"Ah, Buffy…." Benny said quietly, he didn't want to get hit next. "I went to Faith's and you know, she wasn't there…"

Buffy whipped her head around to look at Benny. Was he seriously asking about Faith right now? The cops were coming for him and Pike, not to mention Angel probably broke Pike's nose and he was asking about Faith?

Buffy looked back at Angel, ignoring Benny. Angel was staring down at Pike, who was still trying to nurse his nose. "Angel, we have to go." She said as the sirens got louder. "Angel!" She shouted, finally getting his attention. "Now." She nodded towards the truck. She had a feeling of panic all through her body, it wasn't the same panic she had felt all those times she had gotten arrested with Pike, Benny and Faith, it was worse. This time, she didn't want Angel to get in trouble.

Buffy and Angel both got into the truck, about to pull away when Benny called out again. "Buffy! About Faith..."

"She doesn't live in LA anymore." Buffy told him through the window, as Angel started to pull away. "And she's dating someone."

Benny frowned, he never thought Faith would actually move on. Even though he and Faith had both been having sex with other people, he had been her first and only boyfriend.

Just as Angel and Buffy pulled out of the gas station driveway, a couple of cop cars pulled in. Angel pulled over, watching as a couple policemen got out of their car, walked over to Pike and Benny like they knew them and then hand cuffed them both. Angel watched them get taken to separate police cars, before he pulled into the street again, heading towards Sunnydale.

0o0o0

Buffy looked at Angel several times, he hadn't said a word to her since getting into the truck and that was a little over an hour ago. Everything was just silent. That scared her. If there was ever silence between them then it was a content silence, but right now, her anxiety was still high and she got a feeling that Angel was mad. She didn't want him to be mad at her. Look over at him again, she finally got the courage to speak. "There's blood…. on your hand." She motioned to his right hand that currently had a death grip on the steering wheel. "Are you hurt?" She asked shakily.

Angel looked at Buffy, he didn't like the sound in her voice, she almost sounded scared. "It's… I don't think it's mine."

Buffy bit her lip, then looked through the glove compartment in front of her, once she found a small travelers size package of hand wipes, she took one out and handed it to him. Angel took the wipe from her, cleaning what he was pretty sure was just Pike's blood from his knuckles. "I'm sorry, Buffy." He whispered.

Buffy took a deep breath, looking straight ahead at the road, was this the part where he said he was sorry but he couldn't be with her anymore because of her past? He had said he was okay with her past, but how could he be when she wasn't even okay with it?

"I just…" Angel shook his head, he had never been in this kind of situation before, he honestly, never thought he would have been and he reacted out of character for him. "I didn't like what he called you."

Buffy whipped her head to the side, looking at him. "Angel, I don't care what he called me. I just don't want you to be mad at me."

"Buffy." He said gently, shaking his head. "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad for allowing myself to react like that." Checking his mirror, and making sure there were no cars near him on the highway, he pulled off to the side. "I don't want anyone to ever speak to you or about you like that, baby."

Buffy thought she was going to turn to goop when he called her baby.

"The Buffy I know and love, is far from a…" Angel trailed off, he didn't want to repeat the word that her ex-boyfriend had called her. "but we also haven't discussed this stuff yet. If you have… if you did, with Pike…"

"Angel." She whispered. "If you are asking me if I am a virgin then the answer is yes."

Angel gave her a smile of relief.

"It's part of the reason Pike and I broke up." She whispered again. "We didn't share the same views on it and he wanted to have sex, I wasn't ready."

"What…" Angel trailed off, he watched as a car drove past them and then looked back to Buffy. "What are your views?"

Buffy shrugged. "Well, before, I just wanted to be with the right person… it started a lot of fights with… with Pike. His views were if you were in a relationship then you had sex, I wanted to be with the right person and I knew it wasn't him. But now, as a Christian… everyone waits until marriage, right?"

Angel shook his head. "Some Christians still live like Hell."

"But you are waiting until marriage, right?" Buffy asked. "You said that…"

Angel nodded, waiting until marriage was something that he strongly believed in. "Does that bother you?"

Buffy shook her head and smiled at Angel. "Not at all. I want my first time to be special and what's more special than being with your husband?"

Angel smiled back at Buffy, he was relieved to hear her say that. He just hoped that he could last until marriage, the way he had been feeling, he knew it was going to be hard. "Love always makes it special."

"So…" Buffy shrugged with a smile. "When you say you love me… do you love me or are you in love with me?"

Angel's smile dropped from his face, he apparently hadn't made it clear. "Buffy Summers, I am completely and utterly in love with you."

Buffy smiled brightly at him, scooting closer to him on the seat, she took his hand in hers carefully, if his hand was hurt from hitting Pike then she didn't want to make it worse. "Me too."

Angel smiled at her again, kissing her softly.

"Does it hurt?" Buffy asked her question from earlier, as she lightly ran her finger over his red knuckled.

Angel shook his head. "It's not too bad, I think his nose got it worse."

Buffy gave him a teasing smile, from the amount of blood Pike had lost, she would have to agree. "But, it does hurt?" She asked, bringing his hand up and lightly kissing his knuckles.

"Just a little." He whispered, taking his hand out of hers, he took her face in his hands and kissed her lips.

"Angel." She whispered, looking into his eyes. "Is it bad that I found it incredibly sexy? When you hit him…" When Pike used to get in fights it annoyed her, but when Angel had hit Pike, she could once again feel that swarm of butterflies in her stomach. She was shocked that Angel had hit him, but it was also incredibly hot.

Angel was surprised. "You did?"

Buffy bit her lip and nodded. "I really, really wanted to kiss you but it would have ended badly if we didn't get out of there."

"Oh, I believe you." Angel nodded, he knew that she had been through way too much with those two guys not to know how it would have ended. He quickly pulled the truck back out onto the highway.

"Angel?" Buffy asked, looking around at the road. Every time she was in the car with Angel, he always drove exactly the speed limit, but this time he was certainly going faster.

0o0o0

Angel turned the truck down a dirt road that had trees on both sides of it, Buffy looked around, unsure of where they even were. He hadn't said anything about where they were going. It was pitch dark outside, they were driving down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, if she was with anyone else, she would be afraid, but she was with Angel. She knew she was always safe with Angel. After several long minutes, they pulled out into an opening, she could see that there were a lot of cars in the distance but Angel pulled off and stopped the truck before they got to the other cars.

Buffy looked around for a second before turning back to him, he surprised her when he kissed her. "Angel?"

"We're about a half hour from your house." He offered, kissing her again. "I have never been here before, but I have heard my friends talking about it since high school."

Buffy raised her eyebrows when he kissed her passionately, but she responded in kind. When they finally broke the kiss, Buffy glanced out the windshield then back to Angel. "Where is here?"

Angel smiled at her, placing a soft kiss to her lips again. "Lovers Point."

"Lovers…" Buffy paused, looking around as another car drove past them. She had never been to a place like this but she knew what people did here. "People have sex here."

Angel nodded. "I'm sure not everyone here is having sex tonight… you don't think…?"

Buffy shook her head. "Well, we aren't, so obviously not everyone is."

"Yeah." Angel shrugged. "It just was the closest place I could think of."

Buffy looked at him questioningly. "To do what?"

Angel smiled, unbuckled his seatbelt and scooted even closer to her before kissing her again. She instantly knew what he wanted to do, and she was all for it. She would never pass up on Angel kisses. It wasn't long before they were in a full on make out session, Buffy sat on Angel's lap, straddling his legs while they kissed, she moaned when she felt his hand slip a little higher under the back of her shirt. She was sure the windows of the church's work truck were just as fogged over as everyone else's windows there tonight.

"How sexy was it?" Angel whispered between kisses. He didn't know why it had gotten him so excited when she said it was sexy when he punched Pike.

"So sexy." She whispered back, against his lips, while her hands roamed his chest. "Everything you do is so hot. The way you play the guitar…" She kissed down his neck. "quote scripture…" She nipped his neck. "how you talk… walk." Buffy gasped when she sat down slightly in Angel's lap.

Angel looked at her sheepishly, as much as he hated to admit it, he was still a man and Buffy was still a gorgeous woman that he was extremely attracted to. He knew he was playing with fire as soon as the idea of coming to Lovers Point had popped into his head. He couldn't help it though, just like Xander, Angel was weak. What he didn't know was what Buffy's reaction was about to be, he just proved to her exactly how weak he was.

Much to his surprise, she leaned her forehead against his. "I love you." She whispered before kissing him.

Angel and Buffy both slightly jumped when they heard a knock on the driver side window. Hesitantly, Angel rolled down the window with Buffy still in his lap. The young dark-haired man looked surprised at what he found inside the truck. "Uh, hey. I just… I saw the church sticker on the back of your truck." He motioned to the rear of the work truck. "I figured you were here to give us a hard time." He smiled. "But it looks like you are here for the same thing we all are."

Angel closed his eye and let out a sigh. He had forgotten that the truck had an Awaken Church sticker on the back of it. If it got back to his parents that he was at Lovers Point, with Buffy and in the church's truck, they would kill him.

"Don't I know you?" The young man asked, then thought about it. "I'm pretty sure I went to school with you."

Angel felt Buffy start to move off his lap, but he held on to her waist. Right now, she was the only thing shielding their visitor from what was going on in his pants. It was bad enough that Buffy was aware of it, but she didn't seem to mind. She didn't seem upset or offended by the reaction his body was having to her and for that, he was grateful. Turning back to the young man, Angel shrugged, he honestly didn't remember who this guy was, but at the moment, he also wasn't thinking clearly. "I don't… I don't know…"

Suddenly the guy nodded. "Yeah, you are Angel Giles. You're the Preachers kid. I'm Parker, we went to Sunnydale High together."

Angel cringed, if this guy knew who he was, then it could get back to his parents.

Parker looked around at everyone else in their cars. "Don't worry." He smiled at Angel and the blonde girl. "I won't tell anyone. You're a man too."

Buffy and Angel watched the guy leave. "Who was that guy?"

Angel shrugged. "I think I remember a Parker in my History class senior year."

Buffy sighed, without thinking, she sat all the way down on Angel's lap, letting out a surprised squeal.

Angel shrugged again. He didn't have anything to say for himself. He knew what kind of reaction he got from Buffy, especially since walking in on her in the bathroom, and now she knew too.

Shaking her head, she smiled. "Do you want to get out of here? It's almost midnight and you still have to put the bed together so my mom will like you more than Xander."

Angel narrowed his eyes are her playfully, and hugged her to him.

0o0o0

Buffy ran in front of Angel to open the front door of her house, while he carried pieces of the bed up the sidewalk to the porch. She knew her mom was still awake because the lights were still on.

"Door next to yours, right?" Angel asked, walking past her and into the house.

Buffy nodded. "Yup. Are you sure you don't need any help?"

"I got it." He smiled as he started up the stairs.

Joyce and Faith got up from the couch, making their way over to Buffy as Angel went into the cleared-out room that was going to be Faith's bedroom. "That took a while, was everything okay?" Joyce asked her daughter.

"Uh." Buffy paused and then nodded. "Yeah, we just made a pit stop. For food." It wasn't a lie, they had stopped for food but that was after they had stopped at Angel's dorm room and he had taken a cold shower. From the look on Angel's face, he was grateful to her for not making a big deal out of it, why would she? He isn't the first guy to ever get an erection and he wasn't the only one in that truck that was turned on.

Faith smiled at the blonde. "Yeah, food, I'm sure."

"Aunt Arlene and Celia said hi." Buffy offered awkwardly. She felt like somehow her mother would know that they had stopped to Lovers Point, she didn't even know if her mother knew there was a Lovers Point in Sunnydale. Her mom always seemed to find things out though. Buffy was sure that Faith already knew something had happened.

Angel jogged down the stairs and nodded at the women. "Hello, Mrs. Summers, how are you?" He smiled.

Buffy shook her head with a teasing smile. His need for her mom to like him was a little overboard, she had only been teasing when she said her mom would be okay with her dating Xander. It was really bothering Angel though.

"I'm good, Angel." Joyce smiled. "How about you? Was the trip okay?"

Angel looked to Buffy for a moment, then back to her mother. "Yeah, things went fine."

"And what am I?" Faith asked sarcastically, teasing Angel. "Chopped liver?"

"Of course not." Angel smiled. "How are you, Faith?"

"Five by five." Faith shrugged. "You know, we thought you guys would have been back sooner… Xander was here to put together the bed."

"Xander was here?" Angel asked quickly, looking from Faith to Buffy then to Joyce.

Buffy laughed, lightly slapping his arms. "Just go get the rest of the bed!" Angel walked out into the night to get the rest of the bed from the truck, Buffy laughed harder when he mumbled something about Xander. "Angel is going to put the bed together."

"That's so nice of him!" Joyce smiled, as Angel came back in with the headboard. "Oh wow, that bed is pretty big."

"B, do I have a bigger bed than you now?" Faith teased as Angel went directly up to the bedroom.

Buffy laughed. "I think so. Aunt Arlene said it is a Queen size, and I have a full. Lucky you."

Faith shrugged but smiled at the same time. She had never had a bed that big before, when Faith was five her grandmother had given her a twin size mattress that she was pretty sure was still laying on the floor in the old apartment she shared with her mother.

Buffy smiled at Faith. She was fully aware that her dark haired best friend had never had a bed like she did now, even if it was a used bed, it was still better than what she used to have.

Joyce watched as Angel walked past them again to go back out for another trip. "Does he need help?"

Buffy rolled her eyes, she knew exactly what he would say if they asked. "I'm positive that he won't let us help, he wouldn't let me help him load it up, but I will ask him." She followed the same path Angel had taken to meet him at the truck. "Need any help?"

Angel looked towards her with a pointed look and shook his head no. "I got this."

"Well…" Buffy trailed off teasingly. "Can I at least carry the tools for you?"

Angel thought about it for a moment and shrugged, as he picked up sever other pieces of the bed. "Fine, but just the tools."

Buffy watched him as he started to walk past her. "Angel." She whispered.

He stopped beside her, waiting, with his arms full of shorter pieces of wood.

Buffy glanced behind her towards the house to make sure no one was looking out. "Can I have a kiss?"

"Buffy." Angel said warningly. He didn't want her mother to find out about them because she looked outside to see them kissing. "Not here."

Buffy pouted. "Fine."

Angel looked at Buffy, helplessly, before looking towards the house. Buffy was fairly blocked by the back of the truck. He dropped a quick kiss to her lips before giving her a smile and making his way to the house again.

Buffy smiled happily, grabbing the tool box and making her way to the house behind Angel.

Joyce walked out of the kitchen just as Buffy walked in the house. "He didn't need any help?"

Buffy shook her head, but held up the tool box. "This is all he lets a lady do."

Joyce laughed and shook her head. "It's extremely nice of him to put the bed together right now, he really doesn't have to. Faith can sleep with you one more night."

"I know." Buffy shrugged. "But he wants to do it."

"It's almost two in the morning, Buffy." Joyce shook her head. "Doesn't he want to go home and go to bed?"

Buffy shrugged, she didn't know what to tell her mom, she couldn't really tell her mom that Angel really wanted her to like him because they were dating and he has some weird issue with Xander helping out around the house so much.

"Well then." Joyce leaned against the door frame in the dining room. "While I have you here, we haven't had the chance to talk about what you wanted to do for your birthday."

Go on a date with Angel and walk through Main Street holding his hand, oh wait, she couldn't tell her mom that. "Whatever." She shrugged. "I'm just one year older."

"Would you like to go to the mall and go shopping?" Joyce asked with a smile, it used to be their birthday tradition when she was younger but they hadn't done it in several years and because Buffy wasn't allowed at the mall without her, she knew her daughter hadn't gone in a while. "We haven't done that in a while."

"Yeah, Mom." Buffy smiled. "That sounds fun. You could also… meet my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Joyce asked shocked. When did her daughter get a boyfriend? "Buffy, please tell me this one hasn't been to jail."

"Mom!" Buffy exclaimed.

Joyce sighed. "How many times?"

"None!" Buffy exclaimed again and Joyce sigh of relief. "He has never been to jail before, he is a really great guy!"

Joyce shook her head. "When did this happen?"

"Recently." Buffy whispered. "but it's serious."

"How serious?" Joyce asked, crossing her arms over her chest. She thought Buffy was opening up to her more and that her daughter was doing better but now Joyce wasn't so sure what was going on.

"Pretty serious." Buffy whispered again. "You will like him, mom, I promise."

0o0o0

Buffy walked into the doorway as Angel almost had the whole bed put together. She let out a low whistle and smiled teasingly. "Hey Sexy."

Angel looked up from where he was placing a wooden slab across the bed. "Right back at ya." He whispered with a wink.

Buffy laughed, before walking further into the room. "Need any help?"

Angel picked up the power drill from where he had placed it on the floor and shook his head. "I'm actually almost done."

Buffy nodded, it was probably for the best that she didn't help him. When it came to taking things apart and putting them together, she was much better at taking them apart. "You know, I was thinking… you should meet my mom."

"Buffy…." He laughed. "I have met your mom."

"I know." She smiled. "But in a boyfriend capacity."

Angel nodded. "After your birthday."

Buffy shrugged. "I kind of suggested to her that she should meet my boyfriend on my birthday."

Angel set the drill back down. "You… told her that you already have a boyfriend?" Joyce would know that they were together before Buffy was eighteen now.

"I didn't say your name." Buffy bit her lip. "I'm pretty sure my mom will be cool about it. After talking to my Aunt and Celia, I really think she will. I love you, I don't want to feel like I have to hide that."

"Just a few more days, baby." He whispered, taking her in his arms and lightly kissing her hair.

Buffy nodded. "Besides, she's already relieved that you have never been to jail."

Angel laughed.


	26. Birthday

Sorry for this update taking so long, school got a little crazy but I decided to carve some time out on my birthday and write this chapter about Buffy's birthday. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long. In the last couple of days alone, I have come up with 3 more story ideas but I want to finish this one and work on Determined by Fate before I start them.

TheSlayer96- Thank you for the reviews!

Allison117- Thank you for the review! I hope you like this chapter!

Guest- Your review made me laugh! They do need a hose!

Chapter 26: Birthday

Buffy pressed her body tightly against Angel, slightly bending her leg, gliding it up his, as they laid in his bed together. Running her fingers through his hair, she panted when his lips left hers and traveled down her neck. Angel rolled over on top of her, placing his hand on her hip as he continued to kiss her neck.

"Angel." She gasped, instinctively pushing her hips harder against his. "You feel…"

Angel let out a muffled growl, feeling Buffy's hands roaming his tank top clad back. In the back of Angel's mind, he knew that at some point either he or Buffy removed his blue button-down shirt. That should have set off warning bells for Angel, but he was so wrapped up in how he was feeling and how Buffy was feeling against him, he didn't even hesitate. Buffy moaned as Angel slipped one hand up the back of her shirt and his other hand, slide up her thigh.

Suddenly, the dorm room door swung open. "Angel, come on! We gotta go get the birthday…" Xander trailed off when he saw the couple laying on the bed together, in a very compromising position for a soon to be Youth Pastor. "…girl, is already here."

"Do you mind?" Angel asked, irritated that his best friend would just walk in on them. He should have locked the door, he didn't know what he was thinking. Oh right, he wasn't exactly thinking about much except Buffy when they hurried into his dorm room.

"When did this happen?" Xander asked confused, looking at his best friend partially laying on top of Buffy, both seemed to be trying to catch their breath.

Angel let out a soft growl, he wasn't normally like this but recently since things started to get more intense with Buffy, he felt himself getting more frustrated and irritable. "Get out!"

"You guys couldn't even wait to go on a date?" Xander asked as if he didn't even hear his best friend talking. "You just jump right into… this? Right on her birthday?" He gestured to his two friends.

"It wasn't right on my birthday." Buffy finally spoke quietly from her place still beneath Angel. She knew why Angel wasn't moving, it was the same reason he didn't move the other night when they were at Lovers Point and Parker had come to the window. She knew he was embarrassed by the reaction his body had. He felt like he should be stronger than that.

Xander bugged out his eyes in shock. "When?!"

The couple looked at each other hesitantly and then turned to their friends, before speaking at the same time. "Prom."

"Prom?!" Xander exclaimed shocked. "You are just as weak as…"

Angel picked up one of the pillows behind Buffy's head and threw it towards his best friend. "Out!"

Xander backed out of the room quickly and slammed the door before he could be hit by anymore flying objects. He couldn't believe what he had walked in on!

Angel dropped his face into Buffy's neck and shook his head. He was so dead. He let his hormones get the best of him, it was something he never thought he would allow to happen. Now his best friend knew it too, his best friend that had a hard time keeping information to himself.

"You okay?" Buffy whispered.

Angel shook his head again, before untangling his legs from hers and sitting up. "I can't do this." He put his face in his hands.

"This…?" Buffy trailed off, confused, as she sat up.

"I can't keep doing this, Buffy." He looked up at her. "Years ago, when my dad gave me the sex talk, he told me there were only two ways to deal with these out of control hormones, Biblically. You walk away or you give in."

Buffy shook her head, walking away wasn't an option. "I can't walk away from you, Angel… how… how do you give in Biblically?"

Angel sighed, looking in her beautiful green eyes. "You get married."

"Mar…married?" Buffy stuttered. She knew that Angel had brought up marriage before, and that was fine later, but her mother wouldn't allow her to get married when she was still in high school!

Angel nodded.

"Angel… I can't…" Buffy shook her head. "I can't get married right now."

"Well, I can't keep living like this, Buffy." He sighed. "What I'm doing… what we have been doing, it's exactly what I preach about to the teens at church and my peers in Bible Study. I can't be telling them to turn away from temptation when here I am giving into it. I won't."

Buffy took a shaky deep breath. "Because of me." She slowly got up from his bed and whispered. "I… I'm sorry. I did exactly what I didn't want to do to you, I never wanted to humiliate you or cause… I, I have to go."

"Buffy!" Angel jumped off the bed to try to catch her but she had already run out the door. He felt his whole world falling apart so, he did the only thing he could think of. Dropping to his knees, he started to pray.

0o0o0

Angel looked around at all the cars outside the Summers house, this definitely hadn't been the plan. As he walked into the house, Willow and Faith happily walked towards him, through all the extra people in the house that were there for the party, but the two girls frowned when they didn't see Buffy.

"Where's B?" Faith asked first.

"Angel, you and Xander were supposed to pick Buffy up from work." Willow reminded him. "Why isn't she with you?"

Xander walked up behind the two girls. "Oh, she was with him."

Both the girls turned to look at Xander. "What?"

"She's not here?" Angel asked confused, he didn't know where else she would be.

Xander shook his head, he had gotten there not long after walking in on them in Angel's dorm room. He figured Angel was more than capable of getting her to her own home for her surprise birthday party, but apparently, he was wrong. "What happened?" He asked his best friend. "Did you two have a fight?"

Willow looked to Angel, confused. "What would you have a fight about?"

Angel shook his head, he couldn't believe this was all happening, all because he wasn't strong enough. He was sure she would have come back home, granted, she didn't know about the party that he had planned with Willow, Xander, and Faith, but this was her house.

0o0o0

Hours later, Buffy walked into her house, Willow, Faith and her mother all rushed at her. "Where have you been?" Her mother asked. "We had a party here for you! All your friends were here from church but eventually we had to send them all home."

"There was a party?" Buffy asked quietly, she never expected to have a party. She hadn't had one in years, all her birthdays ended up horrible so she never even wanted to bother. This birthday had the potential to be better, but it had ended up just as bad. No, it wasn't just as bad. It was worse.

"Of course, there was a party!" Joyce nodded. "But you weren't here, and where's this boyfriend of yours I was supposed to meet?" Then Joyce looked at her daughter, really looked at her and noticed her red puffy eyes. Buffy bit her lip, she didn't want to cry again but she couldn't hold it in. "Oh." Realization hit Joyce as her daughter burst out crying. "Oh, no."

Willow's mouth dropped open, she didn't even know that Buffy had a boyfriend. Faith shook her head and stopped her foot, she never would have thought that things wouldn't have worked out between Buffy and Angel, they were perfect together! But what was really annoying her was that Angel had been there for the party and he didn't say anything. Even though he was acting a little odd, praying at random moments, he didn't even act like he was overly upset over any kind of breakup. She had just figured Angel's frequent praying was some weird religious thing.

Joyce hugged her daughter tightly and whispered. "Everything is going to be alright, Sweetie." Joyce turned to her daughter's best friends. "Can you get her upstairs and in some comfortable pajamas? I will grab the ice cream."

Both girls nodded before taking the crying Buffy from her mother.

0o0o0

"Wow." Willow whispered, sitting on Buffy's bed with her and Faith. "And you guys have been…. dating… since prom?"

Buffy nodded, wiping away her tears for what felt like the hundredth time.

"I didn't even know." Willow looked from Buffy to Faith, shocked. "Why didn't I know?"

"That was kind of the point, Red." Faith said.

Buffy nodded again. "I wasn't eighteen and I didn't want him to get in trouble."

Willow looked sadly at her blonde best friend. "But now you guys aren't together?"

Buffy shook her head, on the verge of tears again.

The redhead rubbed her best friends arm. "Why?"

Buffy bit her lip to stop herself from crying. "He… he said, basically, the temptation is too great and we either needed to walk away or get married."

Faith eyed her best friend. "And you picked to walk away?"

Buffy shook her head, she would never pick to walk away from Angel, but she didn't know what else to do. "Mom won't let me get married, I'm still in high school."

"Willow is still in high school and I bet if Oz asked her, she would do it." Faith nodded, looking at the redhead.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Willow is a senior, she is graduating next week."

"You would be a senior, Buffy." Faith frowned. "If it weren't for me."

Buffy shook her head, she had this conversation with Faith several times. "I made my own choices, you didn't make me do the stuff I did to make me fail." Buffy wished once again that she hadn't royally screwed up her life and she wasn't still in the eleventh grade when she should be graduating in a week with her best friend. The blonde felt another wave of tears coming, but tried to hold them back.

"Buffy, don't cry." Willow said sadly. "He's a fool! A big dumb jerk person, if you ask me."

"Will, it's okay." Buffy shook her head. "You don't have to make him out to be the bad guy."

"But… that's the best friends job." Willow looked to Faith, earning a nod from the brunette.

Buffy shook her head. "It's not his fault. This is his beliefs, and it was obviously torturing him. He said he couldn't keep living like that. I don't blame him."

"Yeah." Willow nodded. "I was just hoping for the best, I know how you feel about him… I just want you both to be happy, but I'm sorry. I know, it must be horrible."

"I think horrible is still coming." Buffy whispered, once again on the verge of tears. "Right now, it's worse. Right now, I'm just trying to keep from dying."

Willow gasped, with tears in her own eyes. She hated to see Buffy hurting so badly. "Oh, Buffy."

"I can't breathe, Will." Buffy sobbed, laying her head in Willow's lap. "I feel like I can't breathe."

A silent tear fell down Faith's cheek, as she moved closer to her best friend, laying down, she put her arms around Buffy, while Willow stroked the blonde's hair. It killed Faith to see Buffy in so much pain, whatever pain Buffy was in, Faith was too. Buffy wasn't just her best friend, she was her sister too, even if it wasn't by blood.

Joyce froze in the doorway of her daughter's room. The sight of her daughter crying and her two best friends comforting her, brought tears to her eyes, because her daughter was in so much pain and because her daughter had two extremely close best friends that would always be there for her.

0o0o0

Hours later, Buffy sat on her bed, she had finally stopped crying, but it never lasted long. She went from crying uncontrollably to felling as if she was completely empty of tears. This was one of those times when she felt like she was about to cry. Instead, she closed her eyes tightly, and started to pray. She lost track of how many times she had prayed in the time that Faith and Willow had left. Her two best friends had already told Pastor Giles and Jenny that they would be at Angel and Oz's pre-graduation party. She prayed for guidance on what to do about Angel, and forgiveness for any part she had played in making Angel feel the way he did and for everything she had done that she shouldn't have. She repented, then repented some more.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes and looked at the clock, she couldn't believe it was after 11:00PM. Calmly, she sat up on her bed before walking out of her bedroom and towards the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later, she walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and went to her closet to pick out something to wear before making her way downstairs.

Buffy looked down at the food in front of her, moving the grilled chicken around on her plate with her fork. She didn't feel like eating but she had promised her mom that she would at least try. Despite it being almost midnight, her mother had told her that she needed to try to eat some real food instead of the small amount of ice cream she had earlier. Her mother had heated up some of the food that had been catered for her birthday party.

"Sweetie…" Joyce whispered from beside Buffy, at the table. "Are you going to at least tell me what happened? You never went into detail…"

Buffy took a deep breath. "There really isn't much to tell."

"I think there is." Joyce nodded, sadly. "You obviously cared a great deal about this boy, you said it was serious and then… this. What happened?"

Buffy looked down at her plate again, whispering. "He…. He wanted to get married."

"Married?" Joyce asked shocked.

Buffy nodded. "I told him I couldn't. I knew that you wouldn't want me to… I'm still in high school."

"Do you love this boy?" Joyce asked quietly.

Buffy nodded again.

Joyce took a deep breath, she knew her daughter was young but after everything she had been through, Buffy wasn't the average teenager. She had grown and matured so much in the past couple months, she knew she could trust Buffy. "And you told him no because of me?"

Buffy bit her lip and looked up at her mom.

Joyce nodded. "Buffy, if you weren't still in high school and you thought I would approve, what would you have said."

"Yes." Buffy said without hesitation.

Joyce thought for a moment, setting her fork down, she pushed her plate to the side. "Call him."

Buffy looked at her mother confused. "What?"

"I want to meet this boy that you are so in love with."

0o0o0

Buffy looked up at her mother nervously, as the doorbell rang, before slowly making her way towards the door from the dining room. She took a deep breath before opening the door.

"Hey." Angel said quietly, watching Buffy, he could tell she was nervous about something. Buffy bit her lip, as she opened the door wider for him to come into the house. "I'm surprised you called me." Angel walked into the foyer.

Joyce raised her eyebrows as Angel Giles walked into her home. Buffy walked towards her mom, waiting.

"Sorry…" Buffy whispered to Angel. "I know you have your graduation party tonight."

Angel nodded. "My mom said she invited you…"

"I just… didn't think you would…" Buffy shook her head. "Never mind."

Angel looked between the two Summers women, Joyce had her arms crossed over her chest, leaning against the doorframe leading into the dining room.

"This is him?" Joyce asked Buffy, standing up straight and unfolding her arms.

Buffy nodded softly at her mom.

Angel looked at both women, this time he was confused by what Joyce had asked.

"Sweetie." Joyce took a step towards Buffy, taking her daughter by the hand. "I approve."

"Wha…" Buffy trailed off again. She felt like she was in some bizarro world, did her mom just seriously say she approved of them getting married?

Joyce nodded towards Angel. "Tell him."

"Mom." Buffy said, confused. Her mother pulled her in for a tight hug and Buffy whispered. "I'm still in high school."

"I know." Joyce smiled, whispering back, as she hugged her daughter. Joyce felt tears well up in her eyes, she couldn't have picked a better man for her daughter. "If you would have told me a month ago, I would have been okay with it."

Once her mom released her, Buffy turned to a very confused looking Angel. "Yes."

"Buffy… wha…?" Angel shook his head.

"I'll marry you." She whispered. "If you still want me."

"I'm sorry." Angel shook his head. "I could have sworn you said you'll marry me and followed up with if I still want you. I always want you, Buffy." He smiled.

Buffy laughed through her tears.

"Hey…" He whispered, taking her in his arms. "Don't cry. I never want to see you cry."

Buffy shook her head. "These are good tears."

Angel hugged her tighter, kissing her forehead. "I thought you said you couldn't get married…"

Joyce smiled at the couple before her, she knew Angel was a good man and he would be amazing to her daughter. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes at the sight of Angel holding her daughter. She knew allowing them to get married was the best thing for Buffy. "She didn't tell you why she said no?"

Angel looked up at Mrs. Summers and shook his head.

"She didn't think I would approve." Joyce told him. "I more than approve, I couldn't be happier."

"See." Buffy said muffled against his chest. "She likes you."

"Of course, I do!" Joyce exclaimed. "You, Xander and Oz are all very nice young men. Besides, I have a sneaking suspicion that Faith and Xander are already in a relationship." As much as Xander had frequented their home before, he seemed to be there even more since Faith had arrived. Joyce would have been stupid not to notice.

Buffy turned her head to her mother and smiled with a slight nod.

"Faith and Xander don't hide it very well." Joyce playfully narrowed her eyes at her only daughter. "But you, I had no idea. I should have, there were signs…"

Buffy shook her head. "No…"

Joyce nodded. "Don't give me that! You talked about Angel an awful lot, you seemed to be upset when he wasn't here to work on the basement with Xander and Oz, he's going to school to be a Youth Pastor and you all the sudden had the urge to read The Bible and not to mention your dramatic jump in your grades and the interest in college."

Buffy pouted. "Okay, so the first part you are right about… but The Bible thing wasn't completely because of Angel, he just happened to be there to break it down for me at a Kindergarten level and okay, yes, I didn't start showing an interest in school until after Angel had talked to me about how important school was…" Buffy turned her head more to look at her mother better, without stepping out of Angel's arms. "BUT I had decided to go to college after I had talked to Jenny and she told me what I would need to do to become a Kids Min Director. And it's not like I had completely sucked at school before."

Joyce smiled then looked at Angel. "And you, taking her to work and picking her up at such a late hour, dropping everything within a moment's notice to go pick up a bed just because she asked and going to prom."

"He did so much more than that, mom." Buffy whispered, then smiled up at Angel. "You don't even know the half of it."

Angel nodded. "What can I say, I'm a sucker for your daughter. I have been since I first laid eyes on her."

"Thank you, Angel." Joyce smiled, placing her hand on his arm. "Thank you for bringing my daughter back to me."

"I can't take the credit for that." Angel shook his head. "God has a plan for us all."

Joyce nodded, she had never been a religious woman, but she couldn't deny the changes in her daughter and the slight changes in Faith, just from having the people from Awaken Church in her life. Looking over at her daughter, she smiled. "Now, will you please eat?"

"Scripture says to fast and pray, mom." Buffy told her, as she leaned into Angel.

Angel nodded. "It puts you in the best possible position for a breakthrough… I have been doing it since the second you walked out the door."

"Well, I'm a girl." Buffy pouted. "I had to wallow in a bunch of ice cream first."

"And you didn't even do it right." Joyce laughed. "You didn't eat nearly enough ice cream. Don't you remember when your father left me? We went to the store and cleared out the entire freezer section of ice cream and vegged for days!"

Buffy let out a small laugh. "You were married for fifteen years, mom."

"Yeah, I know." Joyce smiled at Buffy and Angel. "But I can tell by the way you two look at each other, you love each other more than your father ever loved me."

"Mom…" Buffy whispered, sadly.

Joyce shook her head. "Buffy, this isn't about me and to be honest, I think your father leaving was one of the best things for us. We have both grown in ways that we couldn't have if he was still here. If we were still married, we never would have moved here and you wouldn't have met Angel."

"If it's God's Will then it will be done." Buffy shook her head. "We would have meet in a different way."

"That reminds me…" Angel smiled down at Buffy, teasingly. "Should we invite Principal Snyder to the wedding?"

"Angel!" Buffy laughed, lightly slapping him in the chest.

Joyce laughed, in a way, Principal Snyder did play a hand in them meeting. If it wasn't for the disconsolate high school principal, Buffy never would have gone to Awaken Church where she met Angel. "Okay, you two should go out… do something together. But eat."

"Well, my parents are throwing a pre-graduation party at the house." Angel shrugged, looking down at Buffy. He found it a little odd that they were having a pre-graduation party, especially since they were having a graduation party after the ceremony. Originally, his parents wanted to have the party earlier in the day until Angel reminded them that it was also Buffy's birthday and he was planning a birthday party for her. His mom had wanted to cancel the pre-graduation party all together but his dad said they could just have it after Buffy's birthday party because they had already planned to have the party and they would have to reschedule and cancel orders. They had this party planned long before they had met Buffy. "What do you say?"

Buffy nodded and smiled. "Sure."

"Mrs. Summers?" Angel smiled at the older woman.

Joyce shook her head. "Angel, how many times have I told you to call me Joyce?"

"Mrs. Joyce." Angel corrected himself.

Joyce sighed. Oz called her Mrs. Summers too, while Xander called her Buffy's Mom.

"Mom, it's a respect thing." Buffy laughed at her mother's reaction. "Everyone does it at church. Speaking of, will you come to church this Sunday?"

Joyce thought for a moment, her daughter had been trying to get her to go to church for weeks. "Okay… fine." Joyce shrugged. "If it will make you happy."

"Mom! Don't sound so excited about it." Buffy teased. "You shouldn't go for me, you go for you."

Joyce nodded. "I will go, besides, how could I say no when this is the place that has had such a big impact on you?"

"Thanks, mom!" Buffy finally stepped out of Angel's arms, giving her mom a kiss on the cheek. "So, what do you say? Do you want to come to Angel and Oz's pre-graduation party?"

After a moment, Joyce nodded. "Sure, why not?" Joyce went to grab her things and made her way back to where her daughter and Angel were still standing, holding hands. Joyce motioned for them to walk out the door and Angel opened it for the two women to exit first. As Joyce pass him, she smiled. "You know, you two are going to get married, you could just call me mom."


End file.
